The majority of the sustainability-focused projects awarded Georgetown University’s new Laudato Si’ Grant are by faculty and staff, who are now planning and executing their proposals for this academic year.
The Office of Sustainability announced (https://www.thehoya.com/university-fund-will-supply-grants-sustainability-initiatives/) the Laudato Si’ Fund, named after Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical on environmental justice, in January to encourage collaboration combating sustainability challenges. The 11 grant recipients revealed (https://sustainability.georgetown.edu/Laudato%20Si%E2%80%99%20Fund%20Proposal%20Finalists) at the end of May include eight projects by professors and staff in a range of campus programs.
Among the faculty and staff projects receiving grant funds are “Design Transfigured,” an exhibition featuring fashion and furniture made of waste materials; “Disability, Disaster and Climate Change: A Public Ethics Project,” which features a summit on the intersection of disability, environmental ethics and climate change and “Incorporating Sustainability Across the Curriculum,” which will work with faculty to make their courses more environmentally friendly.
The $300,000 in the Laudato Si’ Fund was distributed (https://thehoya.com/student-projects-awarded-gu-sustainability-grants/) to the different projects in amounts ranging from $10,000 to $50,000.
“Design Transfigured” will show 40 works of clothing, jewelry and furniture crafted from trash in an effort to convey pollution’s impact. Led by Albey Miner, director of Georgetown University galleries, the exhibition will feature 25 international designers and studios.
It will not only create avenues for conversations around sustainability, but also show that waste can be creatively utilized to make useful products, according to Miner.
“We always intend our exhibitions to spark interesting new dialogues among our campus community,” Miner wrote in an email to The Hoya. “This particular show will hopefully expand individuals’ denition of “upcycling” and challenge them to consider new ways of approaching waste.”
The exhibition will show in the Maria & Alberto de la Cruz Art Gallery and Lucille M. and Richard F.X. Spagnuolo Art Gallery starting Oct. 2 during a public reception and will remain on display until Dec. 15. There will also be a panel on Oct. 3 following the exhibition’s opening featuring a few of the artists, one of the art curators and some Georgetown faculty members, according to Miner.
The “Design Transformed” display is crucial in highlighting the role that artists and designers play in nding a solution to current environmental issues, according to Miner. “The environmental crisis impacts all of us; we often hear about potential solutions from scientists and politicians, but artists and designers are making fascinating and unique contributions to the conversation and to our lives,” Miner wrote.
