Summer 2020 Grant Recipient
Matthew Burtner (Music) and Willis Jenkins (Religious Studies)
Coastal Futures Conservatory integrates arts and humanities into UVa’s Long-Term Ecological Research
(LTER) at the Virginia Coast Reserve (VCR). Having received international attention for its unique
listening-focused model of integration, the Conservatory now seeks to develop strategic global
partnerships. Specifically, this grant would support two key initiatives: 1) establishing the VCR as a
UNESCO Biosphere Soundscape partner and 2) building the second stage of our online portal, to handle
new data sonifications and interactive installations. Valuable in themselves, those initiatives are also key
steps in advancing the Conservatory’s model in major global networks for the interdisciplinary study of
environmental change, in preparation for next-stage external grant applications.