| |
River of Words is a California-based 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. We’ve been conducting training workshops for teachers, park naturalists, grassroots groups, state resource agencies, librarians and others since 1995, helping them to incorporate observation-based nature exploration and the arts into their work with young people. In addition to helping improve children’s literacy—and cognitive skills like investigation and critical thinking—River of Words’ multidisciplinary, hands-on approach to education nurtures students’ creative voices as well, through instruction and practice in art and poetry.
The results have been successful beyond our most audacious hopes—
- community partnerships in support of education and watersheds
- creek clean-ups and restorations
- student poetry clubs and art exhibitions
- oral history projects
- school gardens
- Girl Scout Watershed patches, developed in conjunction with US EPA
- and many, many more wonderful projects
Our goal is to get kids excited about learning, and to connect informed and engaged citizens with businesspeople, government agencies, and learning communities, working together toward common, self-defined goals.
Perhaps the best way to understand our impact and mission is to view some of the poems and artwork created by children around the world. These extraordinary works have been submitted to our free, annual environmental poetry and art contest, conducted in affiliation with The Library of Congress Center for the Book. The contest theme is watersheds, a meaningful, scalable way of looking at the whole of nature. We accept poems in English, Spanish and American Sign Language (submitted on videotape). And through the universal language of art—painting, drawing, and photography—students learn not only about their own homegrounds but, in sharing their work with each other, about other bioregions and cultures, as well.
The watershed art and poetry submitted to River of Words is exhibited around the globe and is seen by millions of people each year, both in person, and reprinted in magazines, books, annual reports and other media. Every painting, every poem contributes to an informed appreciation of the natural world and the interconnectedness of all beings.
If you’d like to help your community, class, or group begin to creatively explore your own watershed—as well as its natural and cultural history—or if you’d like to get involved with the work we do at the national and international level, please contact us via phone, fax, email or snail mail.
In October, 2003, we opened a gallery of children’s art and poetry
from around the world, called “Young
at Art.” If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, or are
visiting, please come see our collection of remarkable works. Please
contact us for days and times we’ll be open.
If you’d like to have some of our artwork for your home or office, or would like to send one of our beautiful full-color books or other publications as a gift, you may purchase any of our River of Words items—art prints from our collection, our art and poetry books, calendars, curriculum guides, t-shirts and more—from our secure website store. Your purchases help support our efforts to “grow” a generation—and in turn, generations—of imaginative, informed, and heartful earth stewards, prepared to address the significant environmental and social challenges of the 21st century.
|
|
|
|
