Rangelands Arts-Based Education Creative Toolkit

The USDA-funded Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) project Evaluating the Affective Power of Art has brought together partners across the Western U.S., Mexico, and Canada to ask a central question: How can art expand public understanding of rangelands and the communities who depend on them? The IYRP Creative Toolkit is one answer. It functions as both a practical manual and a creative framework, offering step-by-step guidance, adaptable templates, and strategies for showcasing and documenting rangelands and pastoralist cultures, while honoring contributing artists, scientists, and advocates throughout the world. Designed for community groups, educational institutions, NGOs, nonprofits, and government agencies, it lowers barriers to participation in arts-based programming, even for those with little prior experience. By pairing flexible formats with shared values, the Toolkit positions creativity as a bridge, linking science with culture, local voices with broader publics, and community expression with the deeper empathy it can generate.