Fri 4/22-Sat 4/23
Earth Day started more than 45 years ago as a way for the world to celebrate the environment. Today, those ideals include promoting sustainable agriculture, as well as alternative energy. Such are the hallmarks of the 10th annual Who’s Your Mama? Earth Day and Environmental Film Festival scheduled for Friday and Saturday in Kent.
The affair begins with the Environmental Film Festival from 6-9 pm Friday at the Kent State University Student Center’s KIVA Auditorium. For Saturday, there’s the block party from 11am-5pm in downtown Kent. Main Street will be closed to allow the arrival of environmental vendors, a parade, music, children’s poetry and alternative energy displays.
Hosting the affair, which attracts upwards of 500 people annually, is Kent-based nonprofit art and education organization Standing Rock Cultural Arts. CoolCleveland talked to Who’s Your Mama? Earth Day and Environmental Film Festival producer Jeff Ingram (Standing Rock Cultural Arts executive director) about the two-day event.
Going back a decade, what was the impetus behind the Who’s Your Mama? Earth Day and Environmental Film Festival?
The vision was to provide a forum for all of the sustainable activities to be presented to the general public. So the idea was to block off the street in downtown Kent and invite vendors to show off organic farming, alternative energy and conservation activities. We also wanted a big parade. That was the big idea when we started out. Now it’s just grown into more. It’s a big celebration for Mama Earth and we do it in a way that’s not so doom and gloom but really shows appreciation of Mother Nature.
From that original concept, how has the annual affair evolved?
It evolved into an environmental film festival and then into a block party. And then it evolved into a Vegan Iron Chef Competition (held last week) to show off all of the good agriculture that’s in our area with local and organic foods. More and more reports are coming out how a meat-eating diet is destroying the planet because all of the land used and how methane is affecting climate change. I think if people geared more towards a plant-based diet, we’d be able to conserve a lot more of our resources. So it’s had different branches with different partners coming on board. It goes in many different directions each year.
When did the film festival become part of the Who’s Your Mama? experience?
This is the 9th year. The film festival is a great way to communicate the beauty of the earth. The big screen really brings the magic and beauty of Mother Earth and Mother Nature. This year we have some really incredible and visually spectacular films. There are great stories as well about people rediscovering the forests that live in an urban area.
What are a few films you’re looking forward to?
There’s a film from Switzerland and Germany called Wrapped. It’s animation, a post-apocalyptic view but very beautifully done. Another is a short documentary on John Muir. He’s an early conservationist and environmentalist who created the John Muir Trail that goes up and down California.
What else do you have planned for this year’s Earth Day celebration?
The block party is always so fun. We’ll have a parade. We have a parade workshop. Vince Packard is a local artist who this year has created wings for some of the characters. We also have amazing poems. There’s a program we partner with at Kent State Outreach where people go into third grade elementary schools and kids write poems about trees. They’re just the best, best poems. They’re into it, and they’re going to read those poems downtown. We’ll also have music.
How does the entire Who’s Your Mama? schedule fit into the Standing Rock Cultural Arts mission?
Standing Rock’s mission is to build communities through the arts, with film or poetry or visual arts or the parade or music. This is one of our major programs. We also promote sustainable business practices. Sustainability is always in the back of our minds whenever we do anything.
What do you hope people take away from Who’s Your Mama? Earth Day and Environmental Film Festival?
I hope people have an appreciation of the earth and get an awareness of all of the different sustainable activities that are going on in our area.