As our 17th Annual Wild and Scenic Film Festival comes to a close, and we prepare our touring films and resources to travel the country and beyond, we also want to look back and acknowledge the incredible work that was done in 2018, and thank our fantastic tour hosts around the world for bringing Wild & Scenic to their communities!
We were blown away to see how the tour grew in 2018. Our event number expanded from 166 events hosted by 112 partners, to 231 events hosted by 155 partners! In fact, 26% of our hosts were first years hosts with us in 2018. With a groundswell of that size, it is our hope that the Wild & Scenic message of inspiring activism and protecting our planet will be heard loud and clear by audiences everywhere. The tour brought about 140 of the best and brightest environmental and adventure films of the year to about 215 communities, with the largest number of events happening in California, Colorado, and Washington.
Wild & Scenic films showcase the beauty of our deserts, mountains, forests, watersheds, oceans, and highlight the responsibility we carry to protect them. Together, with our On Tour Hosting Organizations, we create vital platforms for these messages to be broadcast. It is our Tour Hosts though, who unite their communities to be forces for change. Wild & Scenic Tour Hosts range from nonprofit organizations to colleges to church groups. Every one of their events inspires new people and builds community ties. Their audiences become activists who together are a catalyst for major change. As they make shifts, they inspire others to do the same. Wild & Scenic On Tour Hosts attracted an average of 211 attendees per event, gathered contact information for outreach purposes from 63% of their audiences, and raised an average of $3,968- a record high! This outreach and fundraising helps each On Tour Host grow their member base and community reach for local grassroots causes. With so many first-year hosts, this number is truly impressive.
Hosting the Wild & Scenic Film Festival is without a doubt a fantastic evening of phenomenal films, but it’s also about making a connection. The content of the films allows the audience to think, laugh, and feel something. These are the moments and connections that we need, now more than ever. We all need compassion, education and inspiration for our own community, the environment and the greater world around us. This film festival encompasses all of that opportunity and I am so thankful to provide this event to our people. – Jennah Stillman, Corvallis Environmental Center
2018 also saw the advent of an exciting new On Tour program! We have introduced our Feature Length Film series, and are going to continue this program in 2019. If existing hosts want to screen feature-length films as part of their event, or at any time during the year, we have a library now of 10 feature length WSFF Official Selections that are waiting to travel as far and wide as our short films!
Overall, we are stoked to see where the tour can grow from here. With cutting edge new films being created every year, hosts expanding and getting creative with their events, and the environmental movement needing inspiration and action now more than ever, we are dedicated to making this program successful, are thrilled to look back on a fantastic year of touring events, and want to take a minute to thank our hosting organizations- Thank you!
| Alabama Rivers Alliance |
| Allegheny College |
| Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay |
| Alta Community Enrichment |
| Aspen Center for Environmental Studies |
| Assateague Coastal Trust |
| Avalon Theatre |
| Bayou Land Conservancy |
| Bioneers Conference |
| BLM Motherlode Field Office |
| Blue Mountain Land Trust |
| Blue River Watershed Association |
| Butler County Metro Parks |
| CSU – Chico |
| Calvin College |
| Cascadia Wildlands |
| CCL Alameda Chapter |
| CCL Homer AK & Kachemak Bay Conservation |
| Central Coast State Parks Association |
| Chattahoochee Riverkeeper |
| Citizens Environmental Coalition |
| Cleveland Museum of Natural History |
| College of the Atlantic |
| Corvallis Environmental Cntr |
| Darmariscotta River Association |
| Dickinson College Outing Club |
| Downeast Salmon Federation |
| Eagle River Watershed Council |
| Earth Rebirth |
| East Tennessee State |
| Eastern Washington University |
| eNRG Kayaking |
| Environmental Council of Sacramento |
| Evanston Environmental Assoc |
| Farmington River Watershed Assoc. |
| Florida Trail Association |
| For the Love of Water Europe |
| Friends of Black Rock High Rock |
| Friends of Boundary Waters Wilderness |
| Friends of Butte Creek |
| Friends of Casco Bay |
| Friends of Nevada Wilderness |
| Friends of Organ Mountains Desert Peaks |
| Friends of the Kaw |
| Friends of the Missouri Breaks Monument |
| Friends of the Napa River |
| Friends of the Rappahannock |
| Friends of the River |
| Friends of the Verde River |
| Gallatin Wildlife Association & NRDC |
| Gateway to Nature |
| Gila Conservation |
| Glen Canyon Natural History Assoc |
| Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery |
| Greater Arkansas River Nature Ass. |
| Greenspace Inc. |
| Grune Liga (Green League) |
| Halau Ku Mana |
| Harmony Health Medical Clinic |
| Harpeth Conservancy |
| Haw River Assembly |
| High Country Conservation Center |
| Idaho Chapter Sierra Club |
| Idaho Rivers United |
| Inland Empire Waterkeeper |
| Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse & Museum |
| Kansas Alliance for Wetlands & Stream |
| Kenai Watershed Forum |
| Kentucky Conservation Comm |
| Kentucky Waterways Alliance |
| Kern River Conservancy |
| Kettle Range Conservation Group |
| Kootenai Environmental Alliance |
| Larimer County Corps |
| Little Miami Conservancy & Loveland Canoe |
| Lost Coast Interpretive Assoc. |
| Midcoast Conservancy |
| Middle Colorado Watershed Council |
| Missouri River Relief |
| Mono Lake Foundation |
| Mount Shasta Bioregional Ecology Center |
| Mountain Area Preservation |
| Musconetcong Watershed Association |
| New Hampshire Rivers Council |
| North Columbia Environmental Society |
| North Columbia Schoolhouse |
| Northern Alaska Environmental Center |
| Northern Plains Resource Council |
| OARS |
| Obed Watershed Community Assoc. |
| Ohio River Foundation |
| Orange Coast Unitarian Universalist Churc |
| Oregon Natural Desert Assoc. |
| Pack Rat Outdoor Center |
| Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Trust |
| Pennsylvania Resources Council |
| Phillips Exeter Academy |
| Plumas County Arts Commission |
| Plymouth State University |
| Powder River Basin Resource Council |
| Prairie Rivers Network |
| Protect American River Canyons (PARC) |
| Red Wing Environmental Learning Center |
| River Alliance of Wisconsin |
| River Network |
| River Revitalization Foundation |
| Rivers & Lands Conservancy |
| Rock Creek Conservancy |
| Rocky Mountain Wild |
| Rogue Riverkeeper |
| Rosa 4 Rockland |
| Salmon Arts Council |
| San Antonio River Authority |
| San Juan Citizens Alliance |
| Science North |
| Seatuck Environmental Association |
| Shore Rivers |
| Sierra Nevada Alliance |
| Sisters St. Francis Philly Red Hill Farm |
| Skagit Fisheries Enhancement Group |
| Snake River Fund |
| Southeast Land Trust of New Hampshire |
| Spokane Riverkeeper |
| St. Croix River |
| St. Martins University |
| Takshanuk Watershed Council |
| The Backpacker/CCA Baton Rouge |
| Threads |
| Trail Creek Outfitters |
| Trees Columbus |
| Trinity Episcopal Church |
| Trout Unlimited Klamath Falls |
| Trout Unlimited South Coast Cut. Chapter |
| Tuolumne River Film Festival |
| UC Merced |
| Upper Missiquoi & Trout Rivers W&S Commit |
| Vashon-Maury Island Land Trust |
| Ventana Wilderness Alliance |
| Ventura Land Trust |
| Vermont Natural Resources Council |
| Virginia Commonwealth University |
| Visions of the Wild |
| Viva Farms |
| Washington Water Trust |
| Westfield River Watershed Association |
| Wet Planet Whitewater |
| Wild Virginia |
| WildPlaces |
| Wildsight Creston |
| Wildsight Golden |
| Wildsight Invermere |
| Wildsight Kimberley/Cranbrook |
| Willamette Riverkeeper |
| WSFF- San Francisco |
| WWALS Watershed Coalition |
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Going On Tour
The Wild & Scenic Film Festival was started by the watershed advocacy group, the South Yuba River Citizens League (SYRCL), in 2003. Over the past 12 years, it has evolved into the largest environmental film festival of its kind in the nation. The annual event each January in Nevada City, CA, kicks-off the nationwide tour to over 150 cities. Each tour stop is an opportunity for an organization to reach out into their community and bring people together around community-based activism. We offer a diverse menu of environmental films that delve into themes such as energy, climate change, conservation, wildlife, community activism, environmental justice, and adventure. Each venue custom builds their own film program to include issues they want to spotlight. Plus, we provide PR materials and a comprehensive planning guide. As an environmental group who has experienced amazing success with the Wild & Scenic Film Festival, we want to share our success with other organizations to create a network connected by a common goal – to use film to inspire activism!
For more information about Wild & Scenic On Tour, please contact Theresa at (530) 265-5961 x 204 or via email.
