photo by: Contributed

A movie poster for the documentary "Prairie Prophecy," which details the life of Wes Jackson, a KU alum and co-founder of the research institution The Land Institute. KU and the Lawrence Arts Center will host a free screening of the documentary on Friday, Nov. 21.

The University of Kansas and Lawrence Arts Center will host a screening of a new documentary about a KU alumnus who helped found a research institution that hopes to make agriculture more sustainable with perennial crops.

The partnership will host a free screening of the documentary “Prairie Prophecy,” which tells the story of Wes Jackson, a scientist, farmer and co-founder of the research institution the The Land Institute, which works to develop perennial crops to make agriculture more sustainable and environmentally friendly.

The documentary follows Jackson’s life, including how his interest and work in regenerative agriculture field spurred from growing up on a farm in Kansas.

J. Christopher Brown, a KU professor and associate chair in the Department of Geography and Atmospheric Science, said in a statement that Jackson “built an entire research institution and a way of thinking” based on the perennial nature of Kansas’s native prairies and how it could feed people and help the environment, and Brown hopes the screening can “spark new efforts to understand our prairies” and the rest of the community.

After the screening, Brown will lead a panel discussion with Nathaniel Brunsell, professor of Geography and Atmospheric Science and director of the Environmental Studies Program; James Bever, foundation distinguished professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and senior scientist at the Kansas Biological Survey; and Lisa Grossman, a local painter and printmaker of the tallgrass prairie and the Kansas River valley.

This event is part of a series of screenings across the Great Plains promoted by the NSF-funded Research Coordination Network: Building a Community of Practice for Co-Producing Resilient Socio-Ecological Systems in Grasslands.

The screening is sponsored by KU’s Environmental Studies Program, the Department of Geography and Atmospheric Science, the Spencer Museum of Art and the Lawrence Arts Center. It will take place at 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 21 at 10th and Mass Studios, 1000 Massachusetts St. Seating is first come, first serve.