This presentation will discuss the creation, implementation, and research results from a collaborative music concert designed to foster a greater connection to the natural world. In fall 2025, the Elon concert band partnered with the Outdoor Education program to design an immersive concert with music written explicitly in response to climate change. Before the concert, Outdoor Education students visited with the band students to help them develop a stronger emotional connection to the natural world and band students visited Outdoor Education students to break down the pieces musically and explain how composers represented the natural world through music. This project was a multi-fold approach, involving students in both programs and attendees of the concert itself.
At the concert, attendees were engaged in a series of data collection methods to explore their connection to the natural world, their feelings on climate change, and their thoughts on an arts-based approach to these topics. After the concert, attendees descriptions of the natural world shifted from less possessive to more collective terminology (echoing Kimmerer's call to change how we talk about the natural world) and utilized more emotive language to describe the impact of place loss and climate change. Attendees recognized the value of an arts-based approach as a way to engage different audiences in conversation about the environment and climate change.
This session will discuss the genesis of this innovative environmental education program and will share results from the concert attendees. The session will explore strategies for innovative cross-departmental collaborations and nontraditional approaches to education about the environment.