Ihlein, Lucas M. Dr

<p><strong>PROJECT BACKGROUND</strong></p><p>In 2013, Dr Ihlein collaborated with artist Ian Milliss to produce <i>The Yeomans Project</i>, an investigation of the significance of PA Yeomans’ Keyline system of landscape management. The Yeomans Project was exhibited at the Art Gallery of NSW alongside a series of public programs, situating Yeomans’ work in a social and environmental context. Following this exhibition, Dr Ihlein was contacted by John Sweet from the Mackay Local Marine Advisory Committee of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA). Sweet invited Dr Ihlein to contribute as an artist to transforming the Queensland sugarcane industry. Industrial sugarcane farming involves intensive chemical inputs, creating run-off which affects the health of the Great Barrier Reef.</p><p>Following initial scoping visits to Mackay, Dr Ihlein secured an ARC DECRA research fellowship and invited artist Kim Williams as a PhD researcher and project collaborator. Partnerships were slowly developed during several field trips, with farmers from Central Queensland Soil Health Systems (CQSHS), natural resource management organisations (Reef Catchments), and community groups  such as Mackay and Districts Australian South Sea Islander Association (MADASSIA) and the Yuwibara Traditional Owners. </p><p><strong>PROJECT EVENTS</strong></p><p>In 2017, Ihlein and Williams collaborated with farmer Simon Mattsson and media-maker Kim Kleidon to present <i>Sunset Symphony in the Sunflowers</i> (SSS) at Mattsson’s farm in Mackay. Over 250 people convened in a bespoke amphitheatre carved out of a field of sugarcane and sunflowers to learn about regenerative agriculture. This cultural event was featured in a 13 minute documentary film. The project team subsequently negotiated permission to create a new work of land art in a public space at the Mackay Regional Botanic Gardens.</p><p>A key contribution of this new work was the connecting of diverse groups with each other around a collaborative, site-specific project. Farmers from CQSHS are developing new methods for soil regeneration which retain water, reduce run-off, and sequester carbon. However, dissemination and uptake of these methods by conventional farmers has been poor, as evidenced by the low rate of compliance by sugarcane farmers to the Best Management Practice program. By situating a demonstration site for regenerative agriculture at the Botanic Gardens, the project created a physical site (“The Beacon”) at which farmers, community members, environmental management professionals, and traditional owners could interact with each other in a non-confrontational manner, on public land. </p><p>The <i>Watershed Land Art Project </i>at the Botanic Gardens involved a two year cycle of soil preparation, planting and harvesting of diverse species following regenerative agriculture principles. Led by local farmers, the chemical-free land management methods showcased at The Beacon included rotating crops of legumes, brassicas, sunflowers and sugarcane. A crop of commercially viable sugarcane was harvested, and scientific analysis by environmental consultancy Catchment Solutions showed that the soil held water at approximately twice the capacity as the land adjacent to the demonstration site. </p><p>Socially Engaged Art contributed to the impact of this small demonstration farm by including the broader community at the heart of the soil preparation, planting, maintenance and harvesting processes. At each stage of the agricultural cycle, the project hosted cultural celebrations, with food, song, and educational workshops to catalyse new connections between farmers and the wider public. Participation in each of these events ranged from 30 to 250 people, and thousands more witnessed the growing crops during incidental visits to the Botanic Gardens across 2018-2019. In late 2018, the project team hosted a major exhibition at Artspace Mackay (the region’s premier contemporary art gallery) which was launched by Deputy Mayor Amanda Camm and attended by more than 5000 people. </p><p><strong>INDUSTRY AND COMMUNITY INVESTMENT </strong></p><p>Besides the core funding from the ARC DECRA fellowship, the project attracted investment from the Queensland Regional Arts Development Fund (RADF) across three rounds totalling $21,334; the Australia Council for the Arts via an $80,000 fellowship for “Emerging and Experimental Arts”; Reef Guardians Community Stewardship Funding totalling $5250 (across two rounds) from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority; private sponsorship from local businesses; and cash and in-kind support from Reef Catchments and Catchment Solutions; as well as project funding for the gallery exhibition of $5000 from Artspace Mackay. These financial contributions demonstrate the esteem with which the project was held beyond academia. <br /><br /><strong>IMPACT GENERATED</strong></p><p>The proliferation of activities generated by the project demonstrate its impact. For example, the project team twice led highschool workshops about regenerative agriculture and social design at the Botanic Gardens as part of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority’s “Future Leaders Eco Challenge”. The Beacon at the Botanic Gardens was the site of numerous meetings about soil health policy between farmers and state and federal politicians. Two of the farmers in Central Queensland Soil Health Systems were invited by MP Stephen Andrews to present about their regenerative farming methods in parliament in Queensland. Dr Ihlein, Ms Williams, and farmer Simon Mattsson were invited to speak at Bundanon Trust about their cross-disciplinary collaboration. Dr Ihlein presented an exhibition about soil carbon sequestration at a major exhibition entitled “Shapes of Knowledge” at Monash University Museum of Art, which included field trips to farms in regional Victoria, and a round-table discussion with carbon farming advocates in the gallery. Exhibitions about climate, soil and waterways were presented in Guangzhou (China), Sydney and Wollongong. Dr Ihlein was involved in establishing the collaborative cross-disciplinary group Kandos School of Cultural Adaptation (KSCA), which has curated two major public fora on culture, farming and land management in regional NSW, which led to a $150,000 grant for KSCA to design and project-manage a two-year program called “An artist, a farmer and a scientist walk into a bar”. Meanwhile, Dr Ihlein and Ms Williams have been collaborating with coastal scientist Dr Sarah Hamylton and human geographer Dr Leah Gibbs on a Global Challenges funded ($15,000) project called “Mapping the islands: How art and science can save the Great Barrier Reef” which has generated creative outputs (songs, a record, lithographic prints) and co-written scholarly journal articles.</p>

<p><strong>PROJECT BACKGROUND</strong></p><p>In 2013, Dr Ihlein collaborated with artist Ian Milliss to produce <i>The Yeomans Project</i>, an investigation of the significance of PA Yeomans’ Keyline system of landscape management. The Yeomans Project was exhibited at the Art Gallery of NSW alongside a series of public programs, situating Yeomans’ work in a social and environmental context. Following this exhibition, Dr Ihlein was contacted by John Sweet from the Mackay Local Marine Advisory Committee of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA). Sweet invited Dr Ihlein to contribute as an artist to transforming the Queensland sugarcane industry. Industrial sugarcane farming involves intensive chemical inputs, creating run-off which affects the health of the Great Barrier Reef.</p><p>Following initial scoping visits to Mackay, Dr Ihlein secured an ARC DECRA research fellowship and invited artist Kim Williams as a PhD researcher and project collaborator. Partnerships were slowly developed during several field trips, with farmers from Central Queensland Soil Health Systems (CQSHS), natural resource management organisations (Reef Catchments), and community groups  such as Mackay and Districts Australian South Sea Islander Association (MADASSIA) and the Yuwibara Traditional Owners. </p><p><strong>PROJECT EVENTS</strong></p><p>In 2017, Ihlein and Williams collaborated with farmer Simon Mattsson and media-maker Kim Kleidon to present <i>Sunset Symphony in the Sunflowers</i> (SSS) at Mattsson’s farm in Mackay. Over 250 people convened in a bespoke amphitheatre carved out of a field of sugarcane and sunflowers to learn about regenerative agriculture. This cultural event was featured in a 13 minute documentary film. The project team subsequently negotiated permission to create a new work of land art in a public space at the Mackay Regional Botanic Gardens.</p><p>A key contribution of this new work was the connecting of diverse groups with each other around a collaborative, site-specific project. Farmers from CQSHS are developing new methods for soil regeneration which retain water, reduce run-off, and sequester carbon. However, dissemination and uptake of these methods by conventional farmers has been poor, as evidenced by the low rate of compliance by sugarcane farmers to the Best Management Practice program. By situating a demonstration site for regenerative agriculture at the Botanic Gardens, the project created a physical site (“The Beacon”) at which farmers, community members, environmental management professionals, and traditional owners could interact with each other in a non-confrontational manner, on public land. </p><p>The <i>Watershed Land Art Project </i>at the Botanic Gardens involved a two year cycle of soil preparation, planting and harvesting of diverse species following regenerative agriculture principles. Led by local farmers, the chemical-free land management methods showcased at The Beacon included rotating crops of legumes, brassicas, sunflowers and sugarcane. A crop of commercially viable sugarcane was harvested, and scientific analysis by environmental consultancy Catchment Solutions showed that the soil held water at approximately twice the capacity as the land adjacent to the demonstration site. </p><p>Socially Engaged Art contributed to the impact of this small demonstration farm by including the broader community at the heart of the soil preparation, planting, maintenance and harvesting processes. At each stage of the agricultural cycle, the project hosted cultural celebrations, with food, song, and educational workshops to catalyse new connections between farmers and the wider public. Participation in each of these events ranged from 30 to 250 people, and thousands more witnessed the growing crops during incidental visits to the Botanic Gardens across 2018-2019. In late 2018, the project team hosted a major exhibition at Artspace Mackay (the region’s premier contemporary art gallery) which was launched by Deputy Mayor Amanda Camm and attended by more than 5000 people. </p><p><strong>INDUSTRY AND COMMUNITY INVESTMENT </strong></p><p>Besides the core funding from the ARC DECRA fellowship, the project attracted investment from the Queensland Regional Arts Development Fund (RADF) across three rounds totalling $21,334; the Australia Council for the Arts via an $80,000 fellowship for “Emerging and Experimental Arts”; Reef Guardians Community Stewardship Funding totalling $5250 (across two rounds) from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority; private sponsorship from local businesses; and cash and in-kind support from Reef Catchments and Catchment Solutions; as well as project funding for the gallery exhibition of $5000 from Artspace Mackay. These financial contributions demonstrate the esteem with which the project was held beyond academia. <br /><br /><strong>IMPACT GENERATED</strong></p><p>The proliferation of activities generated by the project demonstrate its impact. For example, the project team twice led highschool workshops about regenerative agriculture and social design at the Botanic Gardens as part of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority’s “Future Leaders Eco Challenge”. The Beacon at the Botanic Gardens was the site of numerous meetings about soil health policy between farmers and state and federal politicians. Two of the farmers in Central Queensland Soil Health Systems were invited by MP Stephen Andrews to present about their regenerative farming methods in parliament in Queensland. Dr Ihlein, Ms Williams, and farmer Simon Mattsson were invited to speak at Bundanon Trust about their cross-disciplinary collaboration. Dr Ihlein presented an exhibition about soil carbon sequestration at a major exhibition entitled “Shapes of Knowledge” at Monash University Museum of Art, which included field trips to farms in regional Victoria, and a round-table discussion with carbon farming advocates in the gallery. Exhibitions about climate, soil and waterways were presented in Guangzhou (China), Sydney and Wollongong. Dr Ihlein was involved in establishing the collaborative cross-disciplinary group Kandos School of Cultural Adaptation (KSCA), which has curated two major public fora on culture, farming and land management in regional NSW, which led to a $150,000 grant for KSCA to design and project-manage a two-year program called “An artist, a farmer and a scientist walk into a bar”. Meanwhile, Dr Ihlein and Ms Williams have been collaborating with coastal scientist Dr Sarah Hamylton and human geographer Dr Leah Gibbs on a Global Challenges funded ($15,000) project called “Mapping the islands: How art and science can save the Great Barrier Reef” which has generated creative outputs (songs, a record, lithographic prints) and co-written scholarly journal articles.</p>