On January 25 and 26, I have the utmost pleasure of presenting at the Eco-Librium International Conference. This conference is organized by an incredible mover and shaker in the arts and climate change integration world—Pat Cruz. I am so excited about what Pat is doing that I interviewed her to learn more about her, her work, and putting on the conference. Particularly, I was curious what she looked for when picking keynote speakers for her conferences.

Thank you, Pat, for taking the time to meet with me!

To start us off, please tell us a bit about yourself.

I was the first in my family to be born in the USA when my parents immigrated there from the Philippines. I was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, where I spent the first 46 years of my life. I struggled in school—we did not have much money growing up—and I hated school, which was so different from my life, language, and culture at home.

As an adult I made it my mission to help kids like me. My mission was to make learning fun, inclusive, and accessible to all. For over 27 years I worked for schools, school districts, and nonprofit organizations. The majority of my time was focused on professional development and improving teaching practice.

In 2020, I founded the Transcontinental Educator Artist Collective for Humanity (TEACH for short). This was a dream of mine: to create an international mecca for arts integration. The pandemic caused so many Teaching Artist friends to lose all their work, their livelihood, that I decided to create TEACH as a way for teaching artists to reach families who were stuck inside due to the pandemic. I realized that this virtual space could be the beginning of making my dream a reality. In June 2022 my husband and I moved to France on a micro entrepreneurial visa. We bought a beautiful property which we are working to transform into an eco-retreat center.

That is such an incredible journey! I’d love to hear more about your current project, Tell the upcoming Eco-Librium Conference.

The Eco-librium Conference is for all creatives seeking to help the environment. We hope to provide the space and time for developing understanding of key climate initiatives we should support (or not), ideas for eco-action programs, and building partnerships with like-minded individuals around the world.

Who is this conference for?

Teachers, community leaders, artists, scientists, environmentalists. This conference is for all who are interested in creating climate action through educational workshops.

What is your goal for the audience?

Our goal is to inspire at least 100 climate action initiatives in at least 10 different countries worldwide. We also hope to develop partnerships between artists/arts groups and science/climate education groups.

That would be an incredible accomplishment! How does that impact who you choose for a keynote speaker?

We look for keynotes who can help inform us on climate goals and initiatives and artists who have found a way to meet those goals in a creative and impactful way.

Our keynote speakers are people who are passionate about saving the environment. Two have artistic backgrounds and two do not.

Why did you pick the keynote speakers that you did for the 2022 Eco-Librium conference?

It is all about their story.

When I heard your story of what you were able to accomplish in Washington State, how you were able to inspire and mobilize the children and the community, and the great, concrete results of your work, I knew others needed to hear this. I love the way you connected creativity with political action. This is what we must do to make change.

Francine and Marcia from Brazil have an incredible idea that has the potential to impact schools around the world. I can’t wait for them to share their brilliant story of the “School of the (im)possible”.

Lillian Nkwenge, CEO of “Youth Fighting Climate Change in Uganda (YOFICC)” will speak on the topic of addressing Climate Change through molding briquettes. YOFICC is truly a story of how grassroots action—teaching and building skills in a community—can have a global impact: helping to stop deforestation. It really puts our work in perspective and, I hope, empowers others to realize every small action matters.

I asked Ben Evans, Federal Legislative Director U.S. Green Building Council to speak about US Policies on Climate Change. Not just to celebrate the environmental victories, but so we can be better informed about what is to come and what more needs to be done. At the conference we will have Q&A with Ben and we will provide opportunities for the many creative minds of the conference participants to brainstorm strategies and ideas for how to tackle these issues locally.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

I want to thank everyone reading this. I also want to invite you to join the virtual conference! ALL ARE WELCOME - we believe in a sliding scale, pay what you can, or apply for a free scholarship provided by our generous donors.

If you are in a position to make a contribution, the conference fee is $30 usd ($15/ per day) - all proceeds cover conference costs and pay teaching artists. The conference fee includes annual membership to TEACH. This means you become part of our on-line community (teach-arts.org), have access to earth education through arts integration resources, and get discounts on our in-person Professional Development Retreats.

I hope to see you at the conference! Namaste!

Thank you, Pat! I can’t wait to be part of this!