Catalyzing Action for Our Ocean & Climate
The ocean connects, sustains, and supports us all. Yet its health is at a tipping point and so is the well-being of all that depends on it. As the past years have shown us, we need to work together to create a new balance with the ocean that no longer depletes its bounty but instead restores its vibrancy and brings it new life.
Together we can shed light on the communities, ideas, and solutions that are working together to protect and revitalize the ocean and everything it sustains.
World Ocean Day
World Ocean Day is the UN-recognized day of ocean celebration and action.
On World Ocean Day, people around our blue planet celebrate and honor the ocean, which connects us all. Get together with your family, friends, community, and the planet to start creating a better future. Working together, we can and will protect our shared ocean. Join this growing global celebration on June 8th!
WHY CELEBRATE WORLD OCEAN DAY?
A healthy world ocean is critical to our survival. Every year, World Ocean Day provides a unique opportunity to honor, help protect, and conserve our world’s shared ocean. The ocean is important because it:
- Generates most of the oxygen we breathe
- Helps feed us
- Regulates our climate
- Cleans the water we drink
- Offers a pharmacopoeia of medicines
- Provides limitless inspiration!
NOW EACH OF US CAN GIVE BACK
Participate in a World Ocean Day event or activity this year and help protect the ocean for the future. It’s up to each one of us to help ensure that our ocean is healthy for future generations. World Ocean Day allows us to:
- Change perspective – encourage individuals to think about what the ocean means to them and what it has to offer all of us with hopes of conserving it for present and the future generations.
- Learn – discover the wealth of diverse and beautiful ocean creatures and habitats, how our daily actions affect them, and how we are all interconnected.
- Change our ways – we are all linked to, and through, the ocean! By taking care of your backyard and helping in your community, you are acting as a caretaker of our ocean. Making small modifications to your everyday habits will make a difference, and involving your family, friends, and community will benefit our blue planet even more! SEE OUR FACT SHEET
- Celebrate – whether you live inland or on the coast, we are all connected to the ocean. Take the time to think about how the ocean affects you, and how you affect the ocean, and then organize or participate in activities that celebrate our ocean.
World Ocean Day Events 2024
FREE Film Screening
The Arc of Oblivion
June 6th
Moody Gardens 3D Theater
Showtime: 7:00 pm
The Arc of Oblivion is an unexpectedly playful search for an answer to a deeply existential question. Set against the backdrop of the filmmaker’s quixotic quest to build an ark in a field in Maine, the film heads far afield — to salt mines in the Alps, fjords in the Arctic, and ancient libraries in the Sahara — to illuminate the strange world of archives, record-keeping, and memory.
No registration needed. General Admission. Free for all ages!
Nature Journaling
on the Coastal Heritage Preserve
Kimberly Ridley
Author of Matagorda Magic
June 7th
Kimberly Ridley will guide guests along the trails and ponds of the Coastal Heritage Preserve to discuss observations of our natural surroundings. You will then return to our Eco-Art Barn to learn more about recording your observations in your own nature journal.
Free for all ages! Spaces are limited to 24 participants per workshop.
Reserve your space today!
Free Workshops
June 7th – Workshop Times
9:00 am – 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
Artist Boat’s World Ocean Day Festival
June 8th
11:00 am to 4:30 pm
R.A Apffel Beach Park, East Beach
1923 Boddeker Rd, Galveston, TX 77550
Join Artist Boat and our partners in celebrating World Ocean Day. Spend the day at the beach discovering, learning, demonstrating, and experiencing how we CAN be a part of the solution to keep pollution out of the ocean. Enjoy hands-on activities, Eco-Art workshops and Bucket Brigade tours (see registrations below), and live entertainment on the main stage.
Winners of the Beautify the Bucket Art Contest will be announced at 3:00 pm.
The Festival is FREE with East Beach Entry.
($15/Car All Day Parking)
FREE
World Ocean Day Festival Workshops
Ocean-lovers of all ages can join in on a workshop on the beach.
Workshops will take place at the World Ocean Day Festival on June 8, 2024
R.A. Apffel Beach Park, East Beach
Free for all ages! Register Today!
Spaces are limited.
Nature Journaling
Kimberly Ridley, author of Matagorda Magic, will teach participants about recording their observations of our beautiful Galveston Beaches. Learn the techniques for beginning and keeping your own nature journal.
FREE
Beach Workshop Times
11:00 am | 12:45 pm
3:00 pm
Drum Circle
Join in on a drum circle on the beach. Enjoy making rhythms of the island as learn to play a drum or other percussion instrument with leader and host, Ilya Janos Kolozs. This popular workshop is always a favorite. Reserve your spot early!.
FREE
Beach Workshop Times
12:15 pm | 1:30 pm
2:45 pm
Whale-y Good Time
Learn the plein air technique of watercolor painting outdoors. Artist Boat artists will lead participants in exploring basic watercolor techniques as you create learn to paint a whale native to the Gulf of Mexico.
FREE
Beach Workshop Times
11:00 am | 12:15 pm
1:30 pm| 2:45 pm
Bucket Brigade
Explore the creatures and features that make Galveston beaches unique with Artist Boat’s Bucket Brigade, an interpretive Beach tour. Learn all about what makes our coast unique with hands-on activities and topics like turbid water, marine debris, Sargassum landings, and more!
FREE
Beach Tour Times
11:00 am | 12:15 pm
1:30 pm| 2:45 pm
Festival Activities
Women in Coastal Science
Join Visit Galveston on the main stage, as Artist Boat hosts the Women in Coastal Science live stream. Karla Klay, Executive Director of Artist Boat, will interview Dr. Kristin E. Brzeski of the Gulf Coast Canine Project. Learn how their research story began when we investigating the “strange looking” coyotes reported by curious citizens of southwestern Louisiana and eastern Texas.
No reservation required.
3:00 pm on the Main Stage
Vendors & Partners
Visit the World Ocean Day Festival Tent to meet our partners and sponsors of this year’s event. Spend the day learning about the ocean and environment for these amazing exhibitors and volunteers. Interactive activities are fun for the whole family.
Visit the Artist Boat booths learn about watershed or help beautify a bucket.
11:00 am to 4:30 pm
Beautify the Bucket
The Beautify the Bucket Art Contest is in full swing with 130 trash barrels adopted, provided by the Galveston Island Park Board of Trustees. These barrels will displayed at the World Ocean Day Festival with winners announced at 4:00 pm on June 8th. Don’t miss out on viewing these amazing pieces of marine art in one place! After the the festival, these barrels will be distributed along the beaches and other locations across Galveston Island as needed.
Winner Announcements
4:00 pm on the Main Stage
SPONSORS
