2024 | The LA River Arts Daylighting Festival
The LA River Arts Daylighting Festival: THE VALLEY builds upon the momentum and relationships that LA River Arts is growing through our monthly River Sessions, Temporary public artworks, performance art, projections, augmented reality, music and dance performances will activate sites along the river over three days in the San Fernando Valley(SFV): commencing at the river’s headwaters in Canoga Park the first night, continuing with a day-long activation in Reseda on Saturday, and concluding in Van Nuys - perhaps on Lake Balboa.
“Daylighting” is a term borrowed from sustainable urban design - the act of removing infrastructure to reveal buried waterways. The festival’s aim is to elevate the visibility of artists active in the SFV and Indigenous artists with ancestral ties to the SFV (Tongva, Chumash, Tataviam) - shining a light on their work for local and international audiences - while building local and global interest in regenerating the health and cultural importance of the LA River.
To better understand the needs of the SFV community and foster their connection to the River, we are working with the SFV-based Creative Exchange(CREX). The CREX is a collective of SFV-based artists and regional Indigenous artists whose community engagement during our River Sessions in the San Fernando Valley in 2024 has informed the themes of the festival. The CREX will also help shape a call for additional artists and performers from the SFV in 2025. The CREX’s work will culminate in the creation of anchoring artworks at the three different sites selected for the LA River Arts Daylighting Festival.
Ten CREX artists participated in the mini-Daylighting Festival in June 2024 in Studio City. Their temporary public artworks, workshops and performances activated both sides of a ½ mile stretch of the River and focused attention upon these artists, their practices, and interconnectivity with the River. Both the artists and the predominantly SFV-based audience provided feedback regarding this first festival. Elaborating upon what worked, what could be improved, and which artists and activities they would like to see at an expanded SFV-based arts festival.
To produce this festival and the larger 3-day festival envisioned, we have partnered with 11:11 Projects, a local arts organization with experience in producing large art festivals in the SFV as well as commissioning public art. They are assisting with planning and implementation of the festival -- with a decade of experience mounting large-scale street festivals in the SFV for the Getty (Getty 2025) as well as CD3 (Reseda Rising) -- as well as the Reseda Mural Fest and multiple permanent public art works.
Other potential partners include Tia Chucha’s Community Center, Somos Familia Valle, a community organization led by trans queer people of color dedicated to support, empower, train, and mobilize families for racial, gender, environmental, and economic justice. Community members will come together to celebrate their individual and shared heritage, creativity, and home, and to embrace the River as a vital space in maintaining the health of the community. We strongly believe the arts are a catalyst for addressing the intertwined health of our communities and that of the River.
As the festival takes place outdoors along public pathways and streets, it promotes inclusivity by ensuring ADA-compliant routes. Several artworks are planned to be visible from vehicles or public transportation routes. Promotional materials will be bilingual: English & Spanish.
Future biennial festivals could focus on other river-adjacent city clusters like: Sherman Oaks-Studio City-Valley Glen, Burbank-Glendale, Atwater-Silver Lake-Elysian Valley, Chinatown-Little Tokyo-The Arts District-Pico-Boyle Heights, South Gate-Cudahy-Bell Gardens-Hollydale, Compton-Paramount-DeForest, and Long Beach-San Pedro.