Building a new generation of conservation storytellers

“The next generation of storytellers will play an important role in shaping a future where people and nature can thrive together.”

This past winter, Yellowstone to Yukon partnered with students in the Digital Design program at Vancouver Film School, inviting three student teams to develop creative concepts that could inspire more people to care about wildlife connectivity and the importance of protecting the Y2Y region.

Over an intensive seven-week project, students worked from a real-world brief, pitching their ideas, refining their concepts with feedback, and presenting their final work.

The results were imaginative, thoughtful and inspiring.

Popcorn and Fries: Bringing the Y2Y region to life through animation

One team, who called themselves Popcorn and Fries, created a two-minute animated video that tells the story of the Y2Y organization, the importance of conservation at scale, ecological connectivity and how protecting the region addresses the loss of biodiversity and a changing climate.

For the empirical version of the video, click here.

Pot of Soup: A new way to interact with the landscape

The second team, Pot of Soup, created an interactive Powerpoint presentation featuring a grizzly bear. The functionality allows the viewer to chose what the bear does next — find food, find a mate and cross a busy road — using a creative combination of real images and video, and illustrations.

The Pluies: Improving website usability and mapping the future

The final team, The Pluies, named after the female grey wolf collared with a satellite tracker in Banff National Park focused on reviewing the Y2Y.net website, providing ideas to improve website usability and create an interactive map of the Y2Y region. We are looking forward to putting some of their terrific ideas into practice.

Beyond the creative work itself, the partnership was a rewarding exchange.

Students gained hands-on experience working with a conservation organization, while our team benefited from new perspectives and innovative storytelling approaches that challenged us to think differently about how we communicate our mission and work.

We extend a big thank you to the students and faculty at Vancouver Film School for their enthusiasm and creativity and for choosing to partner with Y2Y this year. Partnerships like this remind us that the next generation of storytellers will play an important role in shaping a future where people and nature can thrive together.