TTF Watershed Partnership is proud to present the “River Alive! Learning Trail,” located at 1101 E Cayuga St in Philadelphia.
This environmental education experience is based on the River Alive exhibit at the Independence Seaport Museum, but on a neighborhood scale along Cayuga Street in the Juniata Park neighborhood.
Located next to Ferko Recreation Center which is adjacent to Tacony Creek Park, the trail includes six stations, each featuring a unique animal sculpture, seating, and English/Spanish bilingual signage for families to learn about the local watershed and nearby Tacony Creek.
The sculptures feature six animals that live in the watershed: fox, fish, turtle, heron, watersnake, and a river otter. Each sculpture includes an interactive water feature (a spout for the water to flow down) and an animal song, written by City Love and accessed via a QR code, intended to show that the animals are our neighbors and part of the diverse urban community.
Motivos Magazine hosted the River Alive! Learning Trail team for a Motivos Team Talk in December 2022. Hear about the magic and hard work behind bringing the Learning Trail to life. Watch below:
Learning Trail Partners:
About Habithèque
Habithèque Inc. is a multi-award-winning, WBENC Certified interpretive planning and design studio headquartered in Pennsylvania. This project is funded by the William Penn Foundation and developed by Victoria Prizzia and her team at Habithèque. Read by 4th has advised on the signage to ensure the content is engaging, educational, and relevant for families with young children. For more than fifteen years, Habithèque has connected organizations, firms, and individuals to create dynamic spaces for education, storytelling, and cultural community engagement. Their work is interdisciplinary at its core by linking technology, public art, narrative, and science in the process of crafting immersive, unexpected, and enticing exhibitions and experiences for learning.
About Miguel Horn
Miguel Horn lives and works in Philadelphia, PA. Horn designed the animal sculptures and seating. His public artworks explore the natural world, often integrating the installations into their environment. He maintains his studio at El Cubo, a space he founded in 2019 in the parkside neighborhood of West Philadelphia.
About Youth Volunteer Corps of Philadelphia
YVC creates volunteer opportunities to address community needs in Philly and to inspire youth for a lifetime commitment to service. The Learning Trail seating was built by local youth from the Juniata Park community and the YVC. YVC offers youth between the ages of 11 and 18 the opportunity to improve their community through volunteering.
About City Love
City Love is a Philly-based social justice music and education group that has spent the last 8 years sharing school assemblies, performances, and workshops to spread love, hope, healing, and dialogue around equity and justice with tens of thousands of students and participants in schools throughout the country.
About Jay Coreano
Jay, a.k.a. “Art God,” is a local artist to Tacony Creek Park and has been a close, passionate partner with TTF. He brings together community members to enjoy and enhance this shared green space. In collaboration with Habithèque, Coreano designed and installed two Learning Trail crosswalk murals and water-activated poetry on the pavement. He also led the Learning Trail Community Mosaic Workshops.