Invisible Rivers was first conceived by New Orleans-based arts organization Mondo Bizarro and the Land Memory Bank & Seed Exchange as a “project that employs the artistic practices of music, theater and boat-building to respond to our region’s interconnected struggles against coastal land loss, environmental racism and displacement.” In partnership with Ripple Effect, the project has grown to include an educational component that involves teachers, community linguists and educators from Houma Language Project, and the New Orleans-based youth choir New Voices New Orleans. 

This cross-sector partnership provides K–4 science and arts teachers with an expansive space to learn about Louisiana’s coastal land loss crisis and test new methods for integrating arts and science into their teaching practices. Our process begins as a group inquiry experience in which all participating educators attend excursions throughout the coast to conduct field-based investigations and interview community members, scientists, and other stakeholders to explore scientific, cultural, and historic components of coastal land loss. Each year, this approach has produced an explosion of interconnected learning and performance projects, providing students with a multidisciplinary learning experience about the causes, contributors, and unintended consequences of proposed solutions to Louisiana’s coastal land loss crisis.