Connecticut 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 Bodies is a two-year arts and civic engagement 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. O’Keefe will work alongside Kathy Urffer, CRC DIrector of Policy and Advocacy, local residents, and community organizations to explore the West River as a vital member of the community. Beginning with listening and learning, the project will develop creative activities and practices, such as storytelling sessions, watershed mapping, photography, poetry, drawing, movement, and community workshops, that reflect local interests and relationships. Water Bodies invites communities to reflect on and engage with their Rivers, strengthen connections to one another and to place, and imagine a shared future rooted in resiliance and care.