Community Engagement

Upcoming Event

Art & the Machine: A Live Radio Theater Event
Inspired by Leonardo da Vinci

Thursday, January 23
5:30 p.m. CT
Sheldon Museum of Art

Join us for a free live performance event inspired by da Vinci's boundary-pushing curiosity, featuring an original radio theater production co-created by OLLI at UNL members and generative AI under the guidance of artists Ash Eliza Smith, Robert Twomey, and their team of artists, researchers and students from the Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts.

The evening will also feature an excerpt from the recent PBS documentary Leonardo da Vinci which inspired the radio play, plus insights into this unique artistic process that merges human creativity with artificial intelligence.

Past Events

The Magic of Murals: FREE Screening & Discussion

Monday, April 15, 2024
Screening Event at Film Streams

We screened our new local documentary, The Magic of Murals, at Film Streams’ Ruth Sokolof Theater, followed by a discussion about the importance of public art in shaping communities. Panelists included:

• Betni Kalk, Omaha artist, designer, muralist, advocate of community art and professor of art and design at Creighton University
• Lauren Martin, co-director of Omaha’s Amplify Arts (moderator)
• Sarah Rowe, Omaha artist and creator of the Starseeds mural featured in the film, located at Ardent Mills near Highway 75 in South Omaha
• Hugo Zamorano, Omaha multidisciplinary artist and mentor with A Midsummer's Mural and Joslyn's Kent Bellows Mentoring Program, among others

Explore resources

Restoring Indigenous Food Sovereignty

Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023
Discussion Event at The Durham Museum

Inspired by topics in Ken Burns’s The American Buffalo, this conversation explored rematriation – the restoration and revitalization of Indigenous foodways, lifeways and cultural knowledge. It included excerpts from the recent short films Homecoming by Julianna Brannum (Comanche), a companion film to The American Buffalo that documents Jason Baldes and the work of the InterTribal Buffalo Council, and Seed Warriors, which highlights Deb Echo-Hawk and the Pawnee Seed Preservation Society.

Panelists:

• Brandon Cobb (Cherokee Nation), Indigenous Conservation Specialist, The Nature Conservancy
• Suzi French (Umóⁿhoⁿ), farm-to-school director for the Umóⁿhoⁿ Nation Public School
• Dan O’Brien, featured in The American Buffalo, owner of Wild Idea Buffalo Ranch and author of Great Plains Bison
• Rebekka Schlichting (Ioway Tribe of Kansas & Nebraska), assistant professor of the practice at the University of Kansas William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications, owner of Native Storytelling Nation and director of Seed Warriors
• Renée Sans Souci (Umóⁿhoⁿ), Indigenous Educator and Cultural Consultant (moderator)

This event was presented by Nebraska Public Media in partnership with the Durham Museum and Vision Maker Media. Additional community partners include the Center for Great Plains Studies.

Additional Resources

• The American Buffalo PBS LearningMedia Collection
• Pawnee Seed Preservation Society
• InterTribal Buffalo Council
• Nature Conservancy in Nebraska
• Umoⁿhoⁿ Nation Public School & Farm-to-School Garden Facebook
• Bluebird Cultural Initiative
• Crane Trust
• American Prairie
• World Wildlife Fund Northern Great Plains
• Sacred Seed

Sneak Peek | Working Fires: Volunteer Fire Departments in Crisis

Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2023
Screening at Scottsbluff's Midwest Theater

In Gering and more than 450 Nebraska communities, volunteers answer calls for help – but the system is sounding alarms. What happens if people stop volunteering for your local volunteer fire department?

Nebraska Public Media previewed its new documentary Working Fires, which features the Gering Fire Department and Carter Canyon Fire, followed by a community discussion with:

• Bill Kelly, Nebraska Public Media Senior Producer/Reporter
• Nathan Flowers, Gering Fire Chief
• Brandi Ehler, Minatare-Melbeta Fire Chief

This free community event was presented in partnership with the Midwest Theater.

NOVA Weathering the Future: Screening & Panel Discussion

Monday, July 17, 2023
Screening at Scottsbluff's Midwest Theater

This free screening of the NOVA documentary Weathering the Future was followed by a panel discussion featuring Dr. Martha Durr, director of the Nebraska State Climate Office, Mitchell Stephenson, associate director of the UNL Panhandle Research, Extension and Education Center, and local rancher Joseph Burford.

Watch the Film

The full episode can be watched on NOVA's website or through the PBS app.

Explore More

For thousands of years, pallid sturgeon have thrived in the murky waters of the Missouri River, but infrastructure built 70 years ago for flood control and river navigation are endangering the survival of this ancient fish. This Nebraska Public Media story was produced in collaboration with NOVA's Science and Society initiative.

Aging in Nebraska | Planning for Your Future

Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2021
Rewatch our live event and explore resources below

If you could see your future, what steps would you take now to prepare for your next chapter? Join us for an online conversation on aging focused on caregiving and end-of-life planning, with information about all the resources available in Nebraska. This event featured clips from Fast Forward, a new PBS documentary that takes a proactive look at aging.

Our panelists are:

• Michael Eric Hurtig, Director/Producer of Fast Forward
• Susan Woodruff, Nurse and Caregiver featured in Fast Forward
• Margaret Schaefer, Managing Attorney, Centralized Intake Unit, Legal Aid of Nebraska
• Dr. Lakelyn Hogan, Gerontologist and Caregiver advocate, Home Instead (moderator)

Representatives from Nebraska’s eight Area Agencies on Aging will also be available in the chat during the event to share local resources and answer your questions.

Presented in partnership with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) and the University of Nebraska Omaha's Department of Gerontology, with additional support from Nebraska's eight Area Agencies on Aging.

Unladylike2020 Screening and Discussion
Feb. 18, 2021

Learn more about the unsung women who changed America, including groundbreaking Nebraskans Grace Abbott and Susan LaFlesche Picotte (Omaha Tribe of Nebraska), as well as film pioneer Anna May Wong. Unladylike2020 creators Charlotte Mangin and Sandra Rattley join Amy Helene Forss, chair of the history program at Metropolitan Community College, for a conversation about these fascinating women and the process of bringing their stories to the screen.

Major funding for UNLADYLIKE2020 is provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people. Support is also provided by Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Wyncote Foundation, California Humanities, HumanitiesDC, Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, Made in New York: Women Film, TV, & Theater Fund, the Harnisch Foundation, Humanities Nebraska, Humanities Montana, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with New York State Council on the Arts, South Dakota Humanities, Virginia Humanities, the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, Utah Humanities, Ohio Humanities, South Carolina Humanities, Humanities New York, JetBlue Foundation, Awesome Without Borders and IFP. Any views expressed in this series do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities or other supporters. The views expressed in this program do not necessarily reflect the views of Humanities Nebraska and the Nebraska Cultural Endowment.