**River Sessions 2025: “Kiki’ing with the River”**
*Kiki’ing with the River* is an outdoor, artist-guided series along the Paayme Paxaayt (aka the LA River) that celebrates queer resilience and community activism through social sculptures and creative engagement. Each session highlights regional LGBTQIA2S+ artists and Indigenous culture bearers, featuring performances, sound, and multimedia installations that explore the balance between nature, control, and liberation. Co-curated by Tiffany Naiman and Juan Silverio, the series amplifies the voices of diverse and resilient queer communities.

Mile 25: Haven by the River | Elysian Valley
April 5 | 2pm-5pm | Elysian Valley Gateway Park
***$20 suggested donation — or pay what you wish!***
The first event in the new River Session series, *Kiki’ing by the River,* will be led by artist, educator and storyteller Salvador de la Torre. Join us for a reflective workshop of meditation, journaling and drawing along Paayme Paxaayt (LA River). De la Torre will guide the session, inviting participants to find a haven by the river and reflect upon queerness as naturally occurring wherever we look. The workshop will be followed by a conversation between de la Torre and curator Juan Silverio. Paper and pencils will be supplied at the start of the session. Participants are welcome to bring their own sketchbooks and journals.
***About the artist***
Salvador de la Torre is a Mexican-born Texas-raised artist, educator and storyteller based in Southern California. Their drawing and performance work invoke the power of personal experience and family history to create artworks that exist at the intersection of activism, art production and praxes of self-acceptance.
Their work engages politics of migration, memory, queerness, and gender in ways that remind us of the power and solidarity that can exist in quotidian gestures.
De la Torre’s production opens channels for theorizing vulnerability, intimacy, and proximity as radical undertakings in the space of the borderlands and beyond. In doing so, their work forges complex narratives of joy, struggle, adaptability, exhaustion and tenderness, as counternarratives that assert the wholeness, nuance, and humanity of immigrant communities, and queer subjectivities.
Salvador earned an MFA from California State University, Fullerton and a BA from Texas A&M International University.
***About River Sessions***
River Sessions is an ongoing series of creative site visits that bring artists and cultural practitioners to the LA River to create public activations engaging themes of environmental justice, resilience, and community storytelling. By centering historically marginalized perspectives, River Sessions foster critical dialogue and deepen cultural connections to the River.
Join us to experience art, culture, and place along the 51 miles of the LA River. In the spirit of Hyonaayn’ar--a Tongva word that means both teacher and student--we will learn about the River’s ephemeral histories and imagine it’s ecological futures, all while exploring diverse and dynamic cultural responses to the watershed.
Watch this 10min documentary featuring our three Indigenous Advisors whose artist residency on the River culminated with: A *Day of Joyful Intervention: Returning the River*

photos by: Erick Iñiguez

photos by: Liz Getz

The LA River—also known in Tongva as Paayme Paxaayt—was once home to dozens of indigenous communities. Then, the River was not only seen as a vital source of life, but its water was understood as a teacher, a healer, and a gift. Today, however, the LA River--channelized and encased in concrete--no longer meanders, and much of that history and connection has been all but forgotten.

During our River Sessions, participants will reconnect, redefine, and reconsider their understanding of the River. Following the lead of our advisor, Tina Orduno Calderon, a Culture Bearer of Gabrielino Tongva, Chumash and Yoeme descent, our walks and site visits hope to deepen our connections to each other, the many riverine ecologies and communities on our route.

Through these monthly excursions, we aim to raise the visibility of artists and communities that populate the 51 miles of the River, give back to the River by cleaning up as we go and discover potential sites and partners for community-led civic art projects.

We hope you will join us as we meander the LA River Basin/ Tovaangar.

*How to pronounce the Tongva name of the river, Paayme Paxaayt.

River Sessions Details

Guided Walks and Site Visits: Mostly 2nd Saturdays, Hours Variable.

During cooler months, most walks will begin at 11am, during hotter months, we will shift to early golden hour evenings.

Rain or Shine (Event may be postponed due to EXTREME WEATHER)

Maps/ Directions and More Details will be sent to participants after registration

Ticket Pricing of the Guided Walks are variable, typically $15-$40 per person - we will ask for an optional donation during registration to help us offer free community tickets for low-income locals whose communities we are visiting

All session registrations include a 5% Gift of Reciprocity. Funds from this fee will cover compensation for the Tribal Elders and Culture Bearers who accompany most River Sessions.

Thank you to all our participants and Community Supporters!

RIVER SESSIONS is made possible with support from the California Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts.