Acclaimed author, organizer and historian Jeff Biggers has been in residence at CAR on 3 occasions. His work has been instrumental in helping to shape the mission of CAR as a vehicle for thinking about local climate action and telling stories of local resiliency In 2017, he stayed in the cabin for several weeks working on 2 books, Resistance: Reclaiming an American Tradition and Trials of a Scold: The Incredible True Story of Writer Ann Royall.
In 2018, He returned to work with residents to develop a performance, South Shore Ecopolis, envisioning Gary as a regenerative city in 2030. It was performed in Michigan City at Politics Art Roots and Culture and in Gary at The Progressive Community Church/Faith Farms featuring Krystal Wilson, Walter Jones, and Sam Love.
In 2021, We invited him back as part of The Climate Season at Indiana University Northwest. For this occasion, he developed a character driven play, Kaminski’s Lot. Set in Gary in 2021, it depicts a climate disaster where a group of IU Northwest students are caught in a torrential storm, in Gary, during a field trip to the Indiana Dunes. They find themselves wandering in what they thought was an abandoned lot “full of weeds”. When they see a light on the greenhouse of an urban gardener, Earline, they barge in for shelter from the storm and slowly learn that the lot they saw as abandoned in an abundant garden filled with edible and medicinal plants. As they learn each others stories, they rediscover a sense of hope as they consider how we can take meaningful climate action as we honor and learn from histories of resiliency.
