About

Learning from Local Experience to Strengthen Disaster Resilience is a community engaged art project that aims to learn from and celebrate the resilience demonstrated by the residents of Steinhatchee, FL in the aftermath of hurricane Idalia. The art project will be carried out in two phases. The first phase, encompasses an interactive installation, comprising of three life rings stands with signage placed around the town of Steinhatchee and a nomination process for recognizing resilient residents of the community. Phase two will follow in September, and will involve a fruit tree planting and dedication event at the Community Center. Please scroll down to read a detailed description of the art initiative.

Led by artist/educator, Katie Kehoe and created in partnership with the Steinhatchee Community Projects Board, Learning from Local Experience to Strengthen Disaster Resilience is funded by Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL and is carried out as part of the pilot research initiative Strengthening Disaster Resilience in Rural Communities through Rural Resource Access Hubs (RRAH). RRAH aims to develop ways for increasing food security in rural communities impacted by hurricanes, and focuses on studying how food storage is impacted by power outages that result from extreme weather events. Through the community engaged art initiative, developed in partnership with the Steinhatchee Community Projects Board, the FSU research team aims to build a relationship with a local community impacted by Idalia to better understand what support is needed to reduce food waste resulting from a loss of power as well as what other support may help to strengthen the resilience of rural communities impacted by hurricanes.

The FSU team comprises researchers from various sectors across FSU and includes Hui Wang - Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering; Guang Wang - Computer Science; Michael Elwardany - Civil and Environmental Engineering; Minna Jia - FSU Survey Foundry; Katie Kehoe - Fine Art; Emily Powell - Climate Scientist; and Kelly Grove, GIS and Earth Sciences. For more information about RRAH, please visit: https://www.research.fsu.edu/research-offices/ord/collaborative-collision/cc-20-events/rural-innovation/accelerator-rural-innovation-program/rural-resource-access-hubs/ And for questions related to the community engaged arts initiative, please contact Katie Kehoe, mkk22f@fsu.edu.