The desert has long served as a kind of living laboratory for human and environmental experiences and developments. The world’s desert regions have been sites for urban construction, military testing and combat, religious and spiritual traditions, natural resources, extraction, and a host of other aesthetic, scientific, and artistic interactions.

At the heart of the Desert Initiative is the belief that the arts are a powerful tool and catalyst for social change, a way of knowing and investigating the world and a source of the innovation needed to address increasingly pressing issues of global concern. Other elements of Desert Initiative include land art, public art, planning, advocacy, art and technology + art and science collaborations and consideration of stewardship and sustainability.