Anooshey Rahim and Graham Laird Prentice
LA River Flags (Tongva Lands)
2020 Lewis MacAdams Prize Winner
Land and Water Acknowledgment
We acknowledge Paayme Paxaayt (Pi-mé pa-height) the “West River” (aka the Los Angeles River) as a source of life for all of us residing on the traditional lands of the Gabrieleno Tongva and Kizh People, and the headwater of the river as it flows from the traditional lands of the Chumash and Tataviam People. We thank our indigenous brothers and sisters for their past, present, and future caretaking of the river and the land. May we work in community with each other and nature to heal ourselves and the air, lands, waters and extended family of living beings that sustain us.
Mission
Transforming 51miles of the LA River/ Paayme Paxaayt as a place for ART, NATURE and COMMUNITY.
Our Philosophy
Founded in 2014, LA River Arts combines advocacy, public policy, and the arts to re-present the river we share. Dynamic public art is the ideal platform for focusing public attention to the LA River. Together, we can learn to be stewards of our watershed, regenerating it with creative and community-led projects. Through planning, conversation, and art-driven engagement, we work to honor the founding communities of this historic landscape, elevate the visibility of artists working in collaboration with the river, and support the vibrant communities the river flows through.
Goals
LA River Arts advocates for an arts and cultural infrastructure integral to the many revitalization projects along the river’s 51-mile corridor from Canoga Park to Long Beach. We believe that cultural projects are a dynamic way to share the river’s potential with a large public audience, and deepen community connections. Our goals include:
Supporting the First People’s past, current and future stewardship of the River and the LA Basin/ Tovaangar.
Leveraging art opportunities to enhance the ecological functioning of each site where we work.
Creating opportunities for artists to engage communities and celebrate their cultural assets.
Activating underused sites via cultural activities and public art.
Welcoming diverse communities and perspectives to create sites for joy and connection.
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Our Team
Photograph by Kristen Kopek, USACE
Staff
Jenna Didier, Executive Director
An artist whose site-based work with water and experimental sculptural machines promotes stewardship of ecologies within cities and on public lands. Via community collaborations, she promotes inclusivity, empowering voices and visions that are not commonly foregrounded in public space. Didier founded the nonprofit organization Materials & Applications (M&A), to promote site-based literacy and experimentation in the built environment. Her award winning permanent public artworks inhabit cities along the California coast, including downtown Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Sunday Ballew, Interim Program Coordinator
Sunday is a lens-based artist, educator and curator whose work often begins with place-based cues. Her professional experience includes producing art conferences and conservation-based live events, guiding Alaskan and Yukon adventures, and lecturing on photography and art. Her aim is to facilitate broadening perspectives and dialogue through experiences that merge community, art and creative advocacy.
Kimberly Rice, LA County Arts Commission Intern
Kimberly Rice (she/her/hers) is a writer and artist from Southern California, currently living on Chumash land. She graduated from UCLA in 2024 with degrees in public affairs and geography. Her areas of interest include transportation justice, cross-community solidarity, and art as political expression.
Cultural Advisors
Tina Orduno Calderon: Culture Bearer, Lead Tongva Advisor
Tina is of Gabrielino Tongva, Chumash and Yoeme descent. She is a singer, songwriter, poet, traditional dancer and storyteller. She is wife, mother, grandmother, sister and auntie to many. To date she has composed over a dozen songs in her ancestral languages of Tongvé and Chumash. Additionally, Tina strongly believes in honoring her ancestors by sharing their history, educating others about Indigenous truths and inspiring others to respect the land, waters, sacred elements and environment. Instagram @lalas_song
Kelly Caballero: Poet & Spoken Word Performer, Cultural Advisor
Gabrielino Tongva, Yaqui, Xicana Poet Kelly Caballero’s body of work focuses primarily on highlighting the multifaceted and complex lives of Indigenous peoples born and raised in urban settings. As well as being a poet, Kelly is a singer-songwriter, performer and jeweler. She recently performed her poetry in collaboration with the cellist, Yo- Yo Ma. Her work has been featured in partnership with The Ford Theater, Hollywood Climate Summit, The Hundreds Streetwear Brand, We Rise LA and much more.
www.kellycaballero.com
Jessa Calderon: Singer, Song Writer, Emcee (rapper), Poet, and Published Author, Cultural Advisor
Jessa Calderon is of the Chumash and Tongva Nations of Southern California. Jessa also identifies with her Yoeme and Mexican roots. Jessa is a natural born singer who truly found her voice in hip-hop. As an emcee, poet and published author, Jessa is able to share her culture and truth in a way that keeps the crowds intrigued. Not only does Jessa bring pictures to life through the minds’ eye with her writing, she also brings her listeners enlightenment and healing. Since 2019 Jessa has joined the Dream Warriors collective with Tanaya Winder, Frank Waln, Lyla June, Tall Paul, Mic Jordan and Gunner Jules. Together they share, music, culture, stories, poems, seminars, workshops, webinars which equates to healing as a community.
Board of Directors
Elaine René-Weissman, President, is an architect whose firm, ERW Design, is based at the intersection of the built form and the site. She is a co-founder of LA River Arts.
Esther Margulies, Treasurer, is an Associate Professor of Practice in the USC School of Architecture Master of Landscape Architecture + Urbanism program, the founder of The Office of the Designed Landscape (OotDL), and co-founder of LA River Arts.
Karlo Barrios Marcelo is Principal and Founder of Good Scout Capital, a private equity firm focused on inclusive capitalism. He is an art and nature lover.
Maria Mejia is the Founder of Rewild Ventures, a business strategy consulting agency focusing on economic development, cross-network collaborations, sustainability, and design. Maria is Impact Director at Alder and is a proud Berkeley Bear and USC Trojan.
Le Nguyen is the President of Beleza Designs, an architectural lighting company. She comes with 25 years of experience in working with design and construction teams to meet common goals, converting project challenges into opportunities.
Damian Possidente is an architect with broad experience creating vibrant residential, academic, workplace and mixed-use developments for urban and campus settings. At each step of the design process, he seeks opportunities to understand and enrich the many layers of community that activate a site, and positively impact broader cultural, economic and environmental systems.
Advisory Board
Nils Gilman Beggruen COO; Exec VP of Programs; Deputy Ed, Noema Magazine
Allen Compton Landscape Architect, SALT
Colby Devitt CEO of Catch the Sun
Leila Hamidi Fellow, Harvard School of Public Policy
Rebecca Horta Director of Youth & Family Programs, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
Tom Lentz Senior Museum Advisor of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, former Director, Harvard Art Galleries
Rody Lopez Executive Director, Craft Contemporary
Nenette Luarca-Shoaf Managing Director, Learning and Engagement, Lucas Museum of Narrative Art
Catherine Taft Deputy Director, The Brick (formerly LAXART)
Hilary Walter Former Manager Academic Programs, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
Press
AUGUST 12, 2022 | LA THIS WEEK
News coverage of the Ribbon Cutting Celebration at the Public Art Summer Camp.
Youth attendees of this summer program held at Downey Recreation Center learned about respecting the land and created art installations out of objects that were found in the river. (Run time 2:21)
July 20, 2021 | Spectrum News 1
Young engineer helps protect LA River. by Chase Beech
Jasper Lutyens, LA River Art‘s 2020 Lewis MacAdams Prize Emerging Artist winner, received an additional Honorable Mention for his “River Monitor.”
July 7, 2021 | kcrw
Potentially deadly heat wave is coming (again). PRESSPLAY with Madeleine Brand
Board member Esther Margulies is interviewed about how public spaces can mitigate the impact of heat on the human body.
May 27, 2021 | boulevard sentinel
Art, Culture and You in NELA in June by Pablo Nukaya-Petralia
May 21, 2020 | MUSE/MUSE TV
The LA River Arts Announces the Lewis MacAdams Prize
June 2, 2020 | kcrw
5 design things to do June 1–7
July 9, 2018 | LA WEEKLY
Summer Art Talks Highlight the LA River’s Potential as Creative Canvas and Public Space
2016 | Society of Typographic Arts
October 9, 2015 | KCET
Integrating Arts and Culture into LA River Revitalization, 10 Feet at a Time