Collaborating for Biodiversity

Collaborating for Biodiversity

Youth Art Opportunity 2024-2025

Black Footed Ferret, Collaborating for Wildlife and Plants, 2023, by 7th-12th grade students at Artventure OC Inc

Collaborating for Biodiversity
is open for submissions
Wednesday, January 22nd
-April 23rd 2025

What is this project about?

Collaborating for Biodiversity is a K-12 youth art project celebrating species protected by the Endangered Species Act. You are invited to submit artworks created in collaboration with two or more youth artists. We’ve created Collaborating for Biodiversity in honor of the 20th Anniversary of Endangered Species Day, Friday, May 16th, 2025.

Please see below for dates, deadlines, eligibility, guidelines, and eligible species. We can’t wait to see the collaborative artwork you create!

January 22nd, 2025 Collaborating for Biodiversity Call to Artist submission platform opens

April 23rd, 2025 Call to Artist submission platform closes to entries

May 16th, 2025 Endangered Species Day 20th Anniversary and Flickr Gallery Launch

May 2025 (date TBD) All eligible images submitted to Collaborating for Biodiversity will be shown in a presentation at a meeting with members of congress in honor of Endangered Species Day 2025 

-Participants must be K-12th grade students, residing in the United States or United States Territories

-Artworks must be collaboratively created by two or more K-12 grade youth artists

-Submitted images will be reviewed for adherence to Collaborating for Biodiversity. Endangered Species Coalition reserves the right to exclude artworks that are not aligned with Collaborating for Biodiversity themes or works that are in any way inappropriate or discriminatory.

– All eligible works will be included in a Flickr gallery celebrating the 20th Anniversary of Endangered Species Day.

-Please submit high quality images of artwork(scan or photograph) including the artwork only. Avoid including distracting backgrounds which detract from artwork (i.e. a hand holding the art, the room behind the artwork, the frame/mat around the work, etc.) Please do not include people in your images of the artwork. Please orient the image in the direction the artwork should be viewed (i.e. upright, not upside down or at a 90 degree angle, etc.) The images cannot be reoriented by ESC staff and will appear in the gallery in the orientation submitted. For large artworks, such as murals, consider using the panoramic setting on a phone camera to capture an image of the work. 

– Please note: ESC cannot accept physical artworks – online submissions only.

-Students’ artwork must be original. It is critical that submitted artwork not be direct copies of images found on the internet, in print media, or elsewhere. To avoid copyright infringement, works thought to be copied or traced will be disqualified.

-No lettering, words, signatures or any other markings may appear on the front of the artwork. Please do not label the depicted species or write/sign the names of the artists. Lettering that is creatively incorporated into the art (such as a sign with text) is permitted.

-All submitted artwork becomes the property of the Endangered Species Coalition. Submission of the artwork grants the Endangered Species Coalition a non-exclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free license to publish your student’s/child’s artwork in Endangered Species Coalition’s editorial, educational, and promotional print and digital materials, in our promotional and educational posts to social media, and for all other lawful uses—including artwork print sales—in furtherance of the Coalition’s mission. All published artwork will be credited with the artist names.

Eligible species can be found on these pages:

LISTED species living or migrating within the United States and U.S. territories, or within the territorial waters of the U.S.:

https://ecos.fws.gov/ecp/report/species-listings-by-tax-group-totals 

DELISTED species living or migrating within the United States and U.S. territories, or within the territorial waters of the U.S.:

https://ecos.fws.gov/ecp/report/species-delisted

PROPOSED FOR LISTING species living or migrating within the United States and U.S. territories, or within the territorial waters of the U.S.:

https://ecos.fws.gov/ecp/report/species-listings-proposed-listing?statusCategory=Proposed%20for%20Listing

 Collaborating for Biodiversity was inspired by the amazing artworks created collaboratively for the 2023 Collaborating for Wildlife and Plants call to youth artists, in honor of the 50th Anniversary of the Endangered Species Act.

 

 Art & Science Workshops For K-12 Youth and Educators

                                 Join Our Free, One-Hour Virtual Workshops 

                February 2025 workshops  

      Artists Kenia LaMarr & Li-Ting Hung, and Dr. ChellBY KilHeffer

 + coming in March: workshop by artist XAVIER CORTADA 

 

Art Workshop on Tuesday, February 18th, at 1:00 pm PT/2:00 pm MT/3:00 pm CT/4:00 pm ET ESC is offering a free, virtual workshop for elementary aged youth and educators, by artist and art teacher Li-Ting Hung. Please see below for more information and the registration link. 

 

ESC is offering a free, virtual art lesson by artist and art teacher @ Bush School, Li-Ting Hung. The workshop, for youth grades K-6, and for educators will feature the Grizzly Bear. 

Description:
Ready to get creative for a cause? Join our interactive art workshop where you’ll explore biodiversity through collaboration. Focusing on the Grizzly Bear, we’ll dive into its vital role in the ecosystem and discuss how art can inspire environmental conservation. Activities include Stream-of-Consciousness Drawing, Touch and Draw, Scratch Art, and Collage Art. Work alongside fellow participants to creatively problem-solve and contribute to the greater call for action to protect biodiversity. Register now and make your mark on this important conversation!

Materials (please bring these materials to the virtual workshop):
Pencil
Colored Pencils
Oil Pastels (make sure you have a few bright colors, brown white, and a black)
Plastic painter’s knife, 3-5 toothpicks, or old plastic club card/credit card, or plastic fork, knife
Sketchbook paper, copy paper, or Smooth Bristol Paper/card stock
Glue stick, and scissors

Optional:
Reference images of Grizzly Bears and their environment

 

Art + Science Workshop, on Wednesday, February 19th, at 1:00 pm PT/2:00 pm MT/3:00 pm CT/4:00 pm ET ESC is offering a free, virtual workshop for youth grades K-12 and educations, by USFWS Biologist Dr. Chellby Kilheffer. Please see below for more information and the registration link. 

 
Dr. Chellby Kilheffer, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Ecological Services

Chellby’s presentation is designed to invoke curiosity in children’s minds and hopefully inspire them to draw, paint, or otherwise create a piece of art that captures their conservation wonderment. In this workshop, Chellby will provide an introduction to the Federal Endangered Species Act, a law developed by Congress to protect species in need of conservation. She will highlight three conservation success stories: bald eagles, Chipola slabshell mussels, and a unique and intriguing plant called northern wild monkshood. Imperiled species are protected because they are important for our ecosystems and cultural connections, and some may provide benefits to humans through medicinal advancements.

Art Workshop on Tuesday, March 11th  at 3:00pm PT/4:00 pm MT/5:00 pm CT/6:00 pm ET ESC is offering a free interactive art workshop by Florida Hall of Fame artist Xavier Cortada. The virtual session, for youth grades 6 and up, and for educators, will focus on transforming public spaces into platforms for community engagement and environmental education. See below for the workshop description and click the button to register. 

 In this engaging session, artist Xavier Cortada will share his journey, highlight his large-scale projects, and discuss the vital role of socially engaged art in conservation. Students will explore how interactive public art can help protect endangered species and they will take part in “Letters to the Future,” a creative project that blends personal storytelling with visual art to inspire environmental action. They will be invited to incorporate their letters into collaborative artworks reflecting their hopes and commitments to wildlife protection, with the opportunity to submit their pieces to the Collaborating for Biodiversity initiative. Don’t miss this chance to be part of a meaningful conversation and the creative movement for conservation!

 

Resources

 To support your participation in Collaborating for Biodiversity, we’re recording our art+science workshops as they take place. 

 

Watch our most recent workshop from 2/10/2025, of Kenia LaMarr’s ‘Pointing the Monarch Butterfly’ workshop here >>>>

What is Biodiversity?

The Word Biodiversity combines:

           Bio: ‘way of life’ or ‘life giving’ with Diversity: Variation in plant and animal life, especially as represented by the number of species *

 *definitions from the Oxford English Dictionary

Biodiversity provides enormous benefits, from supporting human physical and mental health and protecting food security, to mitigating climate change and ensuring that a range of habitats for recreation and appreciation of the natural world are protected and respected. It’s never been more important for people and communities to collaborate to ensure that our shared future is biodiverse. Creative processes and making works of art can be impactful, meaningful opportunities for young people to learn about and represent biodiverse wildlife, plants, and places.

 

LEARN More about Collaborative Artworks

Collaboration is an act of cooperation, an effort to work toward shared understanding and the satisfaction of realizing projects together. By working collaboratively, we are united with others seeking to show our collective care for the well-being of our native wildlife and plants, in unity with our human communities. Collaboration thrives with the knowledge that by working together we can build new structures that embrace multiple perspectives and tap into collective wisdom.

Here are some possible collaborative opportunities:

-Pairing students from different grades, for example 2nd and 5th grades, 8th and 12th grades, etc.

-Students can collaborate with other youth such as siblings and friends outside of the classroom to create work

-One student can create the habitat where the species lives and a second student can create the species living in the habitat, emphasizing one or more ESA listed species.

-Students partner to research Envirnmental Justice issues related to recovering imperiled wildlife and show the story of local community projects benefiting wildlife and plants

There are many kinds of collaborative media possibilities. Here is a list of just a few of the possible collaborative projects  you can do:

-Collage in 2D or low relief media

-Murals created by groups with chalk, paint, or other materials

-Land based artworks using natural materials 

Found object 2D and 3D works

-Collaborative digital artworks

-Books, zines or comics

-Additive sculptural works created by a whole class

-Additive paintings or drawings with contributions from multiple artists

-Ecosystem drawing (or other 2D or 3D Media) where multiple students collaborate to depict an ecosystem and the species living there.

To receive the latest Collaborating for Biodiversity and other education programming updates, please click the button to sign up for our educator email list.

Thank you for your interest in Collaborating for Biodiversity!