What is ecotourism, and what does it have to do with art-making anyway? Honestly, I’m still figuring that out myself, but as one who is passionate about ecotourism and is excited to be a part of a project seeking to champion and facilitate art-making, I’d like to take a stab at it…
Ecotourism is interpreted in quite a variety of different ways. For some it merely means tourism in a natural outdoor environment. For others ecotourism is simply a marketing term that is used to try to jump on the “green” bandwagon. For others it is used interchangeably with terms like responsible tourism or sustainable tourism. I personally like those terms as well because they connote a much broader meaning of ecotourism. The kind of ecotourism that we at Green Olive Arts are interested in promoting is most definitely a tourism with an eye for responsibility and sustainability regarding its impact on the natural environment. It is, however, also much more than that! It is also tourism with an eye for responsibility and sustainability regarding its impact on the social, cultural, and economic environment of the local community. A kind of ecotourism that seeks to actively protect and sustainably develop both the natural environment as well as the people of a community… a sort of ecotourism meets social entrepreneurship.
So when it comes to ecotourism and art-making, this means that as we at Green Olive Arts welcome global creatives to make art in this amazing city of Tetouan and country of Morocco, and as we welcome local creatives alongside, we will seek to promote authentic responsible interaction with the people and environment of this beautiful place. This, we believe, will both inspire and facilitate a richer, more authentic art-making experience for the artist/creative. This also means that as we, the founders of Green Olive Arts go about establishing and running this endeavor, we will do so actively looking for how we can have a positive sustainable impact on this community, both its people and environment.
Sounds like a tall order doesn’t it? It most definitely is, and that’s why we hope that you will be a part of helping us make this dream a reality! How can you do that, you ask… Well, we can think of a few ways for starters: Follow our blog for ways to participate, spread the word for us, tell you friends about us, link to our blog from your facebook, twitter, or your own blog. If you are an artist/creative, fill out our Artist Survey, and then come see us and participate in this endeavor with us!!
