Author: Christine

Wild Art Mural Unveiling: RuckusRoots in the News!

After months of planning and hard work with 200 students from Hawthorne, CA, we finally unveiled our mural at Eucalyptus Elementary School last month! We spent a great afternoon with the 4th graders who participated in our Wild Art program as we celebrated their beautiful artwork and the creative reuse skills they learned throughout the program. The mural, composed of thousands of repurposed plastic bags collected by the students and turned into paintable canvases, is now installed in the school cafeteria for them to enjoy for years to come! Students also learned about urban wildlife throughout the program, and how their creative skills can be used to help nature and improve their community. 

Check out the video for more! (We were featured by Hawthorne City News!)  

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For more from this program, check our our previous blog. To see past Wild Art programs click here. 

Animation Video: Where Your Donation Dollars Go…

 

DONATE now

In 2018 over 4,000 single-use plastic bags were diverted from Los Angeles streets and over 500 underserved youth had access to quality sustainable arts education thanks to donors like you.

Our 2019 programs will provide opportunities in both classrooms and public workshops to empower Angelenos of all ages in three areas: visual arts, ecology and creative reuse. Our goal is to reach 600 students and divert another 12,000 single-use plastic bags from the environment. Even though we helped over 500 students last year, LA is still home to thousands of youth without access to arts education, and hundreds of miles of littered and polluted streets.  

Your donation dollars have huge impact on our work:

$1 = 1 plastic bag diverted from landfill and turned into art

$2 = 1 hour of quality arts education for 1 student

$3 = 1 square foot of beautiful mural for an underserved community in LA

 

Case Study

Wild Art in at Eucalyptus Elementary School

We completed our latest Wild Art program at Eucalyptus Elementary School in Hawthorne, CA with nearly 200 3rd-4th graders. Your donations will go towards continuing the program with 5th graders next spring, and towards installing the mural of student paintings on campus. In Wild Art, student-artists gain visual art skills while learning about local wildlife and important creative reuse methods that can help protect endangered species in our city. The program has already diverted 4,000 plastic bags from landfill.

Here’s what Hawthorne Fine Arts Commissioner Danielle Marquez has to say about the program: 

And here’s a blog with pictures: https://ruckusroots.org/wild-art-program-at-eucalyptus-elementary/

Thank you for your continued support of our work! 

 

TRASHformation: Shining Light, Building Shade

We were thrilled to be asked by our corporate partners, LUSH Cosmetics, to participate in their Western Regional Managers Conference in Scottsdale Arizona, May 2018. Not only did we learn more about the amazingly progressive ethic of LUSH and their Charity Pot program, but we also were able to share RuckusRoots’ mission with lots of wonderful Lushies and run a version of our TRASHformation program in support of No More Deaths, another LUSH-funded organization.

No More Deaths is a volunteer-led, Arizona-based organization aimed at stopping immigration-related deaths and dangerous situations on the US-Mexico border. They believe that saving the lives of those enduring treacherous, life-threatening treks across the desert is a humanitarian responsibility. However, they have faced much backlash both politically and legally for the simple act of providing water, food, and very basic medical attention to these suffering humans.

We designed a TRASHformation project to directly aid No More Deaths volunteers by offering both cooling shade and uplifting messages. Nearly 120 participants built our “Woven Hearts Art Tarp” in about three hours. It is made almost entirely out of recycled materials (LUSH charity pot lids, recycled fabric, etc.). Colorful zip ties connect thousands of lids, while hundreds of positive messages of solidarity adorn fabric circles glued to the lids. This 10’ x 7’ quilt-like piece will act as a mobile shade tarp and can be installed in many different ways—off of existing plants, vehicles, structures or poles. It will last for quite some time in the searing desert sun thanks to the durability of the materials, and its breathable nature will allow high desert winds to pass through without causing any danger.

Want to build one of your own? We put together an Instructable that guides you through exactly how to do it! 

Crowdfunding Success and Chimes for Change Launch

 

We are very pleased to announce that we’re starting 2017 with a bang. Thanks to YOU, we met (actually surpassed) our 10K goal and raised $11,300 during our end of year crowdfunder. What an inspiring way to end 2016 and begin a new year and new program. Thank you to everyone who donated and has supported our work along the way. We are so grateful for YOU!

These are some of the questions we asked students during the first week of our new Chimes for Change program at Larchmont High School. And thanks to our new iPads and partnership with SKIES, an interactive learning app developed by Cal Tech grads, students were able to answer these questions and see their answers posted alongside their classmates in real time.

This is just one of many exciting developments we’re bringing to our new and improved Chimes for Change program. Here are some others:

  • We finally have our own student tech devices (Thank you LUSH Charity Pot!)
  • Instead of just one, several professional artist mentors are involved in lending their expertise to this program. Learn more about each of them here.
  • We’ll be taking students to neighborhood council meetings to take our change-making abilities one step further. 

And this is just the beginning! Because of these changes and even more we’ll reveal as the semester progresses, this is sure to be our most impactful program ever. 

New Chimes for Change Program at Larchmont

We are very excited to announce a new Chimes for Change program will begin at Larchmont High School in January. This fall and winter we have been reviewing feedback from our pilot Chimes for Change program, applying what we learned to planning the new one, and we’re making some exciting changes and additions to the curriculum as a result!

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Some new features include:

–New learning outcomes: besides sustainable design/building, music composition and sound recording, participants will also learn digital mapping, the physics of sound and science of materials.

–Students will work with several different artist mentors, each one an experts in his/her chosen field. Public art, music, engineering, science and civic outreach will all be taught by working professionals.

–We also hope to also design and build a display for the chimes that becomes a replicable interactive sustainability learning tool to directly address the needs of schools and communities.

–New Partners! Thanks to LUSH Cosmetics, SKIES, Larchmont High School and Gabba Gabba Gallery for supporting and collaborating with us on this project.

Stay tuned for more info soon!

Chimes Planning Meeting, November 2016
Chimes Planning Meeting, November 2016

 

Matching Funds for Chimes for Change!

 

Hi Everyone!

We just wanted to send a quick update about our summer activities. We’re working on fundraising and gathering materials for a new Chimes for Change program in the fall.

Chimes for Change is an education, multi-media experiences that teaches students both visual and audio art skills. We are so exciting to be offering this program again to new students!

Please consider donating to help us bring this program to fruition this fall!

We’re also doing summery things like swimming in rivers, going to the beach, hiking in the mountains and visiting our friends and family, and we encourage you to do the same! There is nothing more revitalizing than being in nature with the people you love.

Here’s hoping you’re all having a wonderful summer – we’ll check back in soon with updates about our upcoming program!

Thank You, Lush Charity Pot!

RuckusRoots receives $10,100 through charitable giving program!

cp-potWe are pleased to announce that RuckusRoots has received a generous grant from LUSH North America’s Charity Pot Program. This amazing cosmetics company donates thousands every year to grassroots organizations, and we are very grateful to have been selected as one of these. The funds will be used to purchase supplies, including several iPads, that will help us offer our Chimes for Change music program to underserved teens in Los Angeles this fall!  Our partners for this upcoming program will be announced in the next newsletter. Until then, check out past Chimes for Change creations here.

 

Student Presentation: Opening Day at the Los Angeles Zoo

Our Wild Art Sculpture concluded its 5-week exhibition at the Los Angeles Zoo yesterday, after celebrating Endangered Species Day for the Zoo’s Wild for the Planet event. It was a perfect ending to a wonderful month, during which we met many awesome Angelinos who care about our planet, its creatures and the arts! The sculpture is moving to its new home in Highland Park, where the students who built it will be able to enjoy it for years to come. 

Until then, enjoy this video, which shows our students presenting their piece on opening day at the Los Angeles Zoo, as well as artist mentor Nino Alicea sharing his thoughts on the power of collaborative arts to improve communities & change lives. 

Unveiling of Wild Art Sculpture at the LA Zoo

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On April 23rd, we unveiled our Wild Art sculpture at the Los Angeles Zoo. Thanks to our crowdfunder from last fall, the Highland Park Neighborhood Council and Academia Avance Charter School, we were able to make this unprecedented event happen. Our Wild Art sculpture is the first outside art piece to ever be installed at the Los Angeles Zoo. Several of the student-artists who helped make the piece were able to come and present it to viewers on opening day. Following are pictures and video of the event. Congrats to all the students, thanks to artist mentor Nino Alicea, designer James Peterson and fabricator Scott Froschauer for your help in bringing this piece to life.

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