A part of The Ways of Water: Art, Activism, and Ecologies Symposium held on October 7-8, 2022, Converging Currents was an interactive workshop that brought together practitioners, community members, organizers, scholars, and creators across disciplines and media who center water at the heart of their work.

Both the workshop and the larger symposium were centered around the reality that water is nourishing and life-sustaining, but has also been commodified, polluted, and politicized. Converging Currents asked participants; how do we recognize and address the many ongoing and intertwined environmental injustices surrounding water? And how does our own relationship with water inform our approach?

Approximately 40 participants came together for 2 hours to share their experiences, ideas, and perspectives. The event drew community members from Ann Arbor to Detroit to Flint; scholars from colleges like the University of Michigan Flint and the University of Michigan Ann Arbor; and professionals from a wide variety of disciples. The participants were artists, geographers, biochemists, students, museum and library staff, activists, environmental professionals, volunteer coordinators, curators and more.

Through hands-on-activities and facilitated conversations, Converging Currents built capacity for new collaborations across seemingly divergent approaches and interrogated what cultural institutions like museums, libraries, and galleries can do to support environmental justice movements.

The Converging Currents Organizers would like to share their deep gratitude for everyone who spoke candidly about difficult topics and challenges that are personal and political. We would also like to acknowledge that these conversations are part of the important environmental justice work being done across the state of Michigan, the nation, and the world. The ideas, philosophies, and calls-to-action on this site are the work of the participants including: