Call for SU Showcase sustainability video submissions

Whether you’re a film major, an avid YouTube video creator or a student who is passionate about environmental issues, here’s your chance to show off your filmmaking skills in front of a campuswide audience. 

Students for Tomorrow’s Environmental Policy (STEP) and Spark Contemporary Art Space are coordinating a sustainability video exhibition, which will run in the Schine Student Center during SU Showcase on May 2. All SU and SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry students are invited to submit their original, sustainability-related videos for the exhibition. The videos should focus on one or both of the following 2011 SU Showcase themes: 

• The Anthropocene Era–A term for our current geological age in which humans affect every natural force on the planet; and
• Visions for a Sustainable Future–How people can live to meet current needs while preserving the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. 

Video submissions must be no more than five minutes in length. Filmmakers are eligible for funding to help with production costs, and they will have the opportunity to personally present and discuss their works at SU Showcase. The videos also will be displayed around the SU campus and available for viewing on the SU Showcase website. All entrants will be invited to an end-of-semester Sustainability Party co-hosted by STEP and Spark Contemporary Art Space. 

Roman Yavich, Maxwell graduate student and STEP member, led the effort to create the SU Showcase sustainability video exhibition. He and his fellow STEP members, along with six students from the College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA), see the exhibition as an opportunity to educate the SU campus on sustainability. 

“Sustainability is a buzzword and no one really knows the meaning,” says Yavich. “I live in the Spark Contemporary Art Space building, which also has apartments with mostly VPA grad students living in them, so I wanted to translate the fun behind the video show, the artistic talent of my VPA friends and my passion for sustainability into an idea that could generate interest and excitement for SU Showcase. I figured that with videos we can promote, educate and create a lasting product, all at the same time.” 

Promoting sustainability through the film medium can also create opportunities to build bridges between students with different majors. “I hope that this exhibition will result in closer collaboration between art and policy students on the SU campus as we look for sustainable alternatives to how we live our lives and how we build our society,” says Yavich. “We need to get more people engaged in this discussion, and using something as interesting as art, in this case video art, is a good strategy in my mind.” 

SU Showcase sustainability video exhibition entries are due by April 11. Submissions will only be accepted in QuickTime format on DVDs or flash memory. For more information, contact Yavich at ryavich@syr.edu or visit http://sushowcase.syr.edu.  

SU Showcase 2011 will feature a morning “teach-in” on climate change. Dave Eichorn, meteorologist and current SUNY-ESF environmental studies graduate student, will kick off the teach-in with a breakfast presentation on the changing climate of Central New York. An expo of student work by Showcase Fellows and student-produced exhibits on “The Anthropocene Era” and “Visions for a Sustainable Future” will highlight the afternoon activities. The evening program will be hosted by experts on creative, visual approaches to understanding global warming. For information on participating in SU Showcase, visit http://sushowcase.syr.edu/Registration_2011.html.