In 2016, students at Appalachian State University partnered with the New River Conservancy (NRC) on a series of projects designed to celebrate the NRC’s 40th anniversary and to highlight current issues in the upper New River Watershed.

The projects were executed by Tom Hansell’s Fall 2016 graduate seminar, Sustainability and the Arts in Appalachia. Students collaborated with NRC staff on four related projects: a walking tour of water quality enhancement projects in downtown Boone, a series of educational presentations at the Elk Knob and New River State Parks, and an interactive history for NRC’s website. These projects culminated in an art exhibit at the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts titled: Collective Vigilance: Speaking for the New River.

Curator Mary Anne Redding says the exhibit was designed “so that visitors will get involved with our community partners and go back out into the community and onto the river with more information and a deeper commitment to preserving this important natural and cultural resource.”

During this presentation, Tom Hansell, Mary Anne Redding, and Kelsey Wagner will discuss how their collaboration with the NRC helped connect the expertise and energy of a college campus to support communities in the upper New River watershed.