River Ridge Institute - For The Birds
River Ridge Institute in Springville has partnered with the Arts Consortium’s My Voice Media Center (MVMC), Visalia’s Urbanists Collective and BJ Rummersfeld Wood Products to create an art and wildlife project on River Ridge Ranch.
My Voice Media participants are painted 30 bird nesting boxes that will be set on River Ridge Ranch during December, 2018 and January, 2019. The boxes will provide nest habitat for Western bluebirds, Wrens, Ash-Throated Flycatchers, Tree Swallows and other cavity-nesting birds. Each box is unique and a creation of each MVMC participant/artist.
Nest boxes were constructed by Institute President Gary Adest from wood donated by BJ Rummersfeld’s saw mill.
A group of volunteers set the bird houses on 2” diameter wood tree poles in locations where the boxes will not be disturbed by cattle.
In the Spring of 2019, My Voice Media will bring the participants/artists to River Ridge for a field trip so that they can see the bird nest boxes in use and their contribution to this wildlife improvement project.
My Voice Media Center exists as a collaboration between the Arts Consortium and Tulare County Health and Human Services Agency’s Mental Health Branch providing art instruction for adults and their support base who have lived experience with mental illness. The My Voice Media Center provides digital and traditional media in order to tell personal stories while achieving artistic aspirations. Accomplished professional artists facilitate the creative ambitions of participants, offering weekly courses in photography, videography, drawing, poetry, audio engineering, recording, and much more. The facilitators act as guides, empowering artists to use digital tools to realize their own creative visions.
To learn more about the program, contact the Arts Consortium’s My Voice Media Center, Tuesday through Friday 10 AM – 3 PM at 300 E. Oak Ave. Visalia CA 93291.
River Ridge Institute is a non-profit that teaches and demonstrates sustainable and regenerative land management in the Southern Sierra Nevada and creates opportunities for the community to get out on the land.
President: Gary Adest
