Captivating Audiences with Permaculture

Right now I'm working with the a local artist collective to plan their monthly theme party for April, with the theme being Sustainability. This artist group does a lot with repurposed materials, and does some great work for the community. This party is geared toward the adult Burning Man crowd, progressive and thoughtful, but also easily distracted party animals. We're trying to plan demonstrations and displays that will showcase Permaculture, sustainability, and any aspect of a path to a future that emphasizes Earth Care, People Care, and Fair Share. We're trying to create visual and interactive experiences for the attendees, and avoid things like pamphlets and handouts. Our goal is to make permaculture principles engaging and accessible to more people.

This is a larger issue that I've thought about a lot. How can we make permaculture more fun and exciting? I find permaculture amazing and interesting, but most of my friends aren't as captivated with the ideas as I am. They support and agree with a lot of what I tell them about permaculture, but it's not an easy concept to communicate and get people excited about. I want to figure out some quick ways to engage people and get them interested in these ideas. If we can do this for the average joe, than we can do it for everyone in the world.

Does anyone have any ideas or input to share?

So this is an art set up idea? Have someone do a fountain showcasing ponds and swales on a mountain. Would be awesome!

Hi Elle,

The event is going to be in a multi-level nightclub in Philadelphia, where the group hosts their monthly parties. The second floor will be dedicated to be a, "disco science fair," to demonstrate sutainability concepts. So, unfortunately showing off some impressive earthworks might be out of the question. Has anyone learned any lessons while trying to share permaculture ideas to the general population? We need to keep it fun to keep people from just walking away. There's going to be music and dancing on the first floor, so we need to be more interesting than that, which might be tough.