CT River Conservancy

The Connecticut River Conservancy (CRC) restores and advocates for clean water, healthy habitats, and resilient communities throughout the Connecticut River watershed. Working across New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, CRC partners with local communities to protect and strengthen rivers from source to sea. Artist Erin Maile O’Keefe, founder of the Human Connection Project, has collaborated with CRC for several years to develop arts-based initiatives that deepen people’s connection to place through creative placemaking and community engagement.

Water Guardians is a two-year community arts initiative built on a simple premise: rural Vermonters already have a relationship with their rivers. Whether inherited across generations, discovered after arriving here, or forged through moments of crisis, those relationships hold stories worth sharing. Through movement, drawing and painting, photography, poetry, journaling, and storytelling, Water Guardians invites communities to reflect on what their rivers mean, strengthen connections to one another and to place, and imagine a shared future rooted in stewardship and care.