FGCU’s student-run botanical garden transforms into a “Music Forest”

by Sean Martinelli  8:28 PM EDT, Wed May 04, 2022

Tucked into the campus of Florida Gulf Coast University is a student-run botanical garden known as the “Food Forest”.

It is a place for students and community members to learn about the benefits of sustainability. But recently the garden was transformed for another purpose.

On Arbor Day, students turned the Food Forest into a “Music Forest”. The idea came from piano performance major Fernando Lopez Flores, who began volunteering in the forest during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I think it’s mesmerizing,” Fernando said about the Music Forest experience.

The forest contained four hours of non-stop music, 30 individual performers and ten ensembles.

“A lot of times people get connected to music in a recital hall or it will be played in a bar,” Natalia Rosen, one of the student performers, said. “But this is different in that we’re connecting in an intimate setting.”

The hope is for the “Music Forest” to become an annual event on campus.