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Studio City Greenway - Poetry for Public Art

No place, not even a wild place, is a place, until it has had that human attention that at its highest reach we call poetry.
- Wallace Stegner

When a public art project containing poetry was proposed for the Studio City Greenway, between Laurel Canyon & Whitsett, the community wanted to use poets from our own backyard. The River Project saw this as a perfect opportunity to begin to put Stegner’s premise into practice.

We created an educational program focused on the Los Angeles River watershed. Using in-class study, field trips and supportive curricula linking literacy, community and the environment, students discovered the river and came to understand its natural & cultural history in a way most Angelenos never experience. We encouraged the students to respond to what they learned through poetry, and to use the power of their words to help others come to understand the river as well. To see it as a place worth of our attention and stewardship.

Nearly 200 poems were submitted to a panel of judges: Fred Dewey, director of Beyond Baroque Poetry Center, Natalie Cole director of the California Center for the Book; and Adele Slaughter and Dan Vining, two published poets from Studio City. We are grateful to them for their time and commitment.

46 student finalists had the opportunity to perform their work before a live audience at TRP’s LA River Poetry Jam, held at CBS Studios and hosted by the Tony-award winning poet, Poetri. The audience helped the judges narrow their selections down to 1st, 2nd and 3rd place selections in each grade level. Some of these winning entries will be permanently inscribed in the public art project the Studio City Greenway between Laurel Canyon and Whitsett.

Inspired by so many wonderful poems, The River Project proposed expanding the project to include more poems and add an interpretive gate comprised of words about water. With support from a Neighborhood Matching Fund grant, the project will be completed by Spring 2005.

We want to acknowledge the support of the dedicated teachers who brought forth such marvelous talent in their students: Beverly Allen, Brooke Belsey and Nasi Kaufman of Carpenter Avenue Elementary School; and John Chaissen and Randy Vail of North Hollywood High School’s Naturalist Academy. Their commitment to community is what makes Studio City unique. We applaud all the students for their extraordinary work and thank them for their vision, creativity, and compassion.

If you would like us to send you a booklet containing the poems of the 46 student finalists, please send us a note and enclose $5.

Student poets were honored by the Los Angeles City Council on the City's first annual River Appreciation Day