Outcomes

This study explores how participants from the Genesee and Raquette River Watersheds describe their relationship to the river and their sense of well-being before and after participating in storytelling and embodied art interventions. Pre-intervention responses were often neutral and observational, while post-intervention reflections became more thoughtful and action-oriented. Across sites, participants showed varying levels of connection, ecological awareness, and motivation toward river stewardship.

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Shared Shifts

From neutral to reflective: Participants moved from simply describing what they saw or felt in a surficial manner to expressing deeper, personal, often embodied reflections.
Greater mindfulness: Many noted a change of their perception of water, sensing the river through movement, and viewing the river as a living system.
Emerging stewardship: Reflections increasingly included commitments to protect the river or reduce personal pollution in the future.
Social resonance: Sharing stories fostered empathy and emotional bonding, strengthening both human-to-human and human-to-river connections.

Overall, the interventions sparked a shared rise in positive sentiment, ecological awareness, and a sense of personal responsibility across both regions, summarized most broadly as an increase in well-being.

Regional Contrasts

Genesee

Started with weaker, individualistic connections; often described the river as a city backdrop.
Exhibited growth post-intervention: robust descriptions of connections, felt inspired by others’ stories, and framed insights as personal growth and new stewardship.

Raquette

Began with stronger, baseline reciprocal connections; often personified the river as a neighbor or kin.
Shared less dramatic change post-intervention: reflections reinforced existing awareness and intentional care rather than transforming it.

This contrast shows that storytelling and embodied art are especially impactful in urban contexts where baseline connection is low, while rural participants in this context experienced the intervention more as a reminder to deepen ongoing practices of care.

Voices from the River

Participants indoors engage in a movement activity, one dancer leaning back dramatically while others observe and prepare to move. — “My body felt good moving, especially through others' points of view. I will pay more attention to the rain's influence on our river and the 'health' of the river.”

A green-striped storytelling booth set between two canoes is paddled across the calm Raquette River, surrounded by trees at sunset. — “The exercise connected me more to humanity and the earth in general. This is likely to influence my actions in the future as I remember.”

A circle of participants huddles closely together with arms around each other during a movement choir session. — “It was wonderful to feel other people's energy and respond to them. Just as we respond to our natural environment.”

Participants raise their hands to their mouths in a symbolic drinking water gesture as part of an indoor movement exercise. — “It help me feel peace and taught me how important the river's health can impact our well being but sometimes it goes unnoticed.”