The Mekong: A Conduit of Artistic, Culinary, and Cultural Riches

The Kennedy Center’s RiverRun Festival has kicked off to celebrate the world’s rivers and their pivotal role in shaping art, culture, and food while being vital and in urgent need of attention. Rivers have played a significant role in civilizations since the beginning of time, yielding layers of fertile soil for crops to thrive in, while at the same time, cultures and religions emerged shaped by the intertwining relationships between rivers, water, soil, and food. Currently, at least two billion people rely on rivers for their drinking water, and about 33% of all food produced on the planet comes from river deltas. However, this huge value is under threat as rivers are facing challenges such as sea-level rises, water shortages, and climate change, among others. Data shows that freshwater ecosystems supporting both biodiversity and fish production are under enormous strain, with an estimated 83% average decline in the abundance of vertebrates that depend on freshwater habitats.

Although people and policy-makers focus on climate change, the viability of water supplies, and food systems, rivers run like the thread knitting all these values and challenges together. Art can be a panacea to illuminate this thread, helping people from the public to policymakers see how critical rivers are. Rivers have long played an essential role in the evolution of art and culture, from Egyptian tombs to the paintings of Renoir and Seurat to the music of John Lee Hooker, Dolly Parton, and Bruce Springsteen. However, a scientific paper published in 2017 by the Association for Psychological Science reported that nature-themed replaces were losing ground in American culture, with the most significant decline found in the frequency of nature words in popular song lyrics. It is hard to value, protect, or preserve something that is fading from sight.

The festival’s medium- art and culture have been intertwined with rivers for millennia. The festival’s focal subject- rivers is incredibly important to a healthy, vibrant future for people, but rivers’ values are frequently overlooked and undervalued. It is time we push back on these trends and shine a spotlight on the essential role of rivers in humanity’s past and future. Ultimately, this is a lot to ask of an art festival, but the RiverRun festival is faithful to this mission of telling the story of rivers and people through time. At an advanced moment, the festival falls directly after the first United Nations Conference on Water that launched the Freshwater Challenge, the most significant commitment to river and wetland restoration in history. As Sam Cooke sang, “A change is gonna come,” and it’s time for art to repay the favor and inspire change.

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