Nearly every major population center on the planet is situated along a major waterway. Water has the power to sustain the planet. It is essential for survival, and it is what connects us all. Water has provided for thousands of years and deserves our protection. 

The special installation Waterways, part of the Human Nature exhibition at the Autry Museum of the American West, presents waterways and maritime cultures as central to local Native California communities: the Gabrielino-Tongva, Chumash, Tataviam, and Ajachamen peoples.

In 2022-23, artworxLA Teaching Artists worked alongside Autry staff to develop Level 1 workshop curricula that combined key learnings from Waterways with socio-emotional learning activities and multimedia arts projects. Students learned about local ecology and indigenous cultural practices, how water is featured in foundational stories, vessel-making and traditions of travel along water, and efforts to center traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and restore sacred connections to water.