August 29 Vallejo/Vacaville Arts and Entertainment Source: A ‘love letter to Vallejo’

Rooted in the environment but with an unmistakable artistic focus, the Visions of the Wild festival is hard to pin down as just one thing.

Every year for the past decade, the two-day event has captivated the community with film screenings, art exhibits, hands-on discoveries and speaker series’ all fixed in different facets of nature. Yet despite its popularity, the staff have found it difficult to answer one question: What is Visions of the Wild?

In 2014, the event was originally set to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act. Founder Steve Dunsky, a filmmaker for the U.S. Forest Service, helped pioneer an event that blended arts and nature. He saw the anniversary celebration as an opportunity to engage the Vallejo community in nature, and used the flourishing arts community as a vehicle to do so.

While the festival still celebrates the establishment of the National Wilderness Preservation System, that isn’t the sole focus anymore. Each year the festival chooses an environmental aspect or theme, including this year’s theme of Re•Generation.

“It was kind of a fun thing we did,” said Festival Director Hannah Dunton, recalling the first event in 2014. “And then the next year we did it again, and so it became this thing that has always gone. But we never really stopped to do a recap of how things are going and what are we doing.”

In an effort to refocus and understand the festival’s impact on the community, the team designed focus groups ahead of this year’s festival, scheduled for Sept. 13-14. Two things stood out. “They really enjoy when we put more focus on the kids,” said Dunton. This was enlightening feedback for the self-described “cerebral, brainy crowd.”

Based on this response, the team realized it could lean more into the Saturday morning family discovery zone. Especially given the theme of “Re•Generation,” and its important sub-theme of younger generations, Dunton began asking, “How are the kids challenged and how are they seeing conservation work?”

Dunton took it a step further and saw an opportunity to include children in the culture portion of the weekend. Before the acclaimed Wild & Scenic Film Festival On Tour closes out the festival on Saturday night at the Vallejo Naval & Historical Museum, a kids film screening will precede it during the day at Riverbank on Georgia Street.

Curated for families, this selection of short films range from three to 15 minutes each and centers the younger generation. Films including “Danny Macaskill: Do a Wheelie,” “Brave Girl” and “JoJo — A Toad Musical” teach youth about ecosystems and how young people can make a difference in the world.

“The other thing people enjoyed was looking at Solano County as a special place on earth,” said Dunton. Many, if not most, festival-goers call this area home, and they want to see how these more general concepts of regeneration apply to their city. “How does it show up in Vallejo and Solano County as this really special place where we have these migratory bird patterns, monarch butterflies, the river and mountains?” said Dunton.

Attendees this year will see a renewed focus on this “special place” as the festival becomes a “love letter to Solano County.” Part of the art exhibit will have a slideshow featuring “before” and “after” photos of Vallejo as seen across time. Artists Coordinator Dragana Monson and Events Coordinator Robin Gross have delved deep into library archives and reached out to community members who have donated old photos to ensure a cohesive and comprehensive view of Vallejo through the years.

A speaker series on Saturday will also focus on a multigenerational perspective of Vallejo, which Dunton voiced her particular excitement for. The panel of speakers will engage in a conversation on Vallejo’s history as seen through different generations and lenses.

Although Dunton doesn’t particularly relish the newly appointed title of “Festival Director,” it’s not for lack of passion. She instead prefers to view it as a team effort, one made possible by a spirit of volunteerism.

“We’re all volunteers and we’re doing this because we really love this community,” said Dunton, who has been involved with the festival since its start. “We’re actually all working very hard at our normal jobs and we’re doing this after we get home every day. Nobody’s making a dollar off of this. It’s really just a labor of love.”

For Visions of the Wild Festival event schedule and locations, visit visionsofthewild.org

Originally Published: August 27, 2024 at 6:02 p.m.