SATURDAY Workshops & Tours
9:30am - Conservation Storytelling [with Evan Schwartz]
Storytelling is a learned practice that is essential for cutting through the clutter to get your ideas widely recognized. An environmental stories writer for Smithsonian Magazine and NOVA on PBS, Evan I. Schwartz provides practical tools such as finding your protagonist, building out your story world, discovering shared values, and completing the hero’s journey. Using examples from his own environmental storytelling as well as ancient myths and modern movies, Evan will provide a set of actionable insights for advancing your ideas as part of stories that can help save the planet. Get group and individual help writing your climate change story for any medium. Writer Evan Schwartz was trained by Former Vice President and award-winning film marker, Al Gore, in communicating climate change stories such as The Kelp Comeback: Underwater Forests Return to Life off the California Coast, for Smithsonian Magazine.
9:30am - From Algae to Ink: Create Your Own Natural Ink [with Jenny Gil]
In this hands-on workshop you'll learn how to make your own ink using algae as a natural and sustainable material. Explore the creative potential of algae, experiment with color and texture, and create an ink that you can use for your own artwork. At the end of the workshop you will take home your own ink!
11:00 am & 1:00pm - Behind the Scenes Aquaculture at Monterey Abalone Farm
Get a very special up close look at how abalone is raised at the Monterey Abalone Farm, located at the Monterey Municipal Wharf, about 1/3 mile from Custom House Plaza. This tour descends under the wharf to view the operations, and includes about a mile of walking.
11:30 am - Sea to Soil: Seaweed Powered Planting Workshop [with Ocean Rainforest & Sway]
Seaweed’s reach goes far beyond the ocean! Discover clever and innovative ways to bring the benefits of seaweed into your own home garden and help your plants thrive. Representatives from Ocean Rainforest and Sway will guide you through hands-on ways to incorporate seaweed-based products into your garden. You’ll plant local seeds provided by Farmhand Foundation in an Ocean Made Kelp Pot, give them a boost with Ocean Rainforest’s MakroBoost seaweed biostimulant, and explore gardening equipment and composting solutions from Sway and Viable Gear. Come get your hands in the soil, learn how ocean-grown resources can support healthy plants, and leave with the tools for your own seaweed-powered home garden!
1:30 pm - Make Seaweed Sunprints [with Sahrye Cohen]
Use the sun and seaweed, marine debris and other natural objects to create blue and white cyanotypes, also known as sun prints. This workshop is inspired by the work of Anna Atkins whose 1843 book, Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions, is the first photo book ever made! Beginner friendly, no experience needed. Adult supervision required for younger children.
1:30 pm - Integrated Beaded Jellyfish Lecture and Workshop [with Gwenevere Persaud]
Join The Persaud Foundation for a 1.5 hour long integrated lecture and workshop all about jellyfish. Following a short lecture, we will be hosting a hands-on workshop on designing your very own beaded jellyfish. Leave with more knowledge on the fascinating world of jellyfish, and a beautiful beaded jellyfish! Suitable for ages 8+ with an accompanying adult.
3:30 pm - Between Tide and Paper [with Mai Ryuno and Emily Gottlieb]
Learn basic seaweed identification and the art and science of seaweed pressing. We will share ideas and observations through discussion. Everyone will create their own mixed-media, pressed art pieces to bring home and will contribute to a collaborative artwork. Artist Mai Ryuno, founder of Play Full Ground Studio, and local ecologist Emily Gottlieb are collaborating on a project called Coastal Conversations, where people with different kinds of knowledge and ways of seeing are invited to participate in collaborative creative experiments.