Local Students Are Invited to Create Art to be Displayed on Light Poles
By LILY TINOCO | Assistant Editor
Locally founded nonprofit Crayon Collection recently announced the launch of the Banners of Hope for Pacific Palisades project—a community-driven initiative inviting area schools impacted by the January fire to create art to be displayed in the community.
Students at each participating school are working to create one unique artwork that is representative of their school, as well as choosing three words to describe the future of the Palisades. These works are slated to appear on banners across the 59 light poles in the Palisades this summer.
“I feel like when I drive through the Palisades right now, it’s really not our community,” Crayon Collection Founder Sheila Morovati—a resident of the Highlands—said to the Palisadian-Post. “When I come through and I [see] ads for debris removal, or remediation or lawyers … It’s just not about our community and the people. There’s this togetherness that we wanted to bring about through these images that the kids are providing us within each school.”
Participating schools currently include Palisades Charter Elementary School, Marquez Charter Elementary School, Methodist Preschool of Pacific Palisades, Kehillat Israel Early Childhood Center, Village School, Calvary Christian, Corpus Christi School, Seven Arrows Elementary School and St. Matthew’s Parish School.
Students, parents, teachers or administrators at an impacted school are invited to contact Crayon Collection to get involved. The deadline to participate is April 30.
“We are excited about this opportunity to bring joy to our community, and hope that you will join us,” Morovati and the Crayon Collection team said in a statement.
Morovati said she hopes the artwork provides a sense of community, joy and hope to those who have been affected and are navigating great loss.
“Just seeing what these kids have produced already has been so uplifting,” Morovati said. “I can’t wait to share it with the rest of the community.”
Of the artwork that Morovati has previewed, she said three words have stood out: Love, Faith and Rebuild.
The banners are expected to go up on June 2 and remain present through the end of August.
“The Banners of Hope project serves as a powerful reminder that hope and creativity can flourish even in the most challenging times,” Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho said in a statement.
At the conclusion, Crayon Collection is also planning on replenishing each school’s art supply closet in August in honor of #NationalCrayonCollectionMonth—“ensuring that students are equipped for the new school year.”
Crayon Collection is also seeking corporate sponsors to help cover the costs of the project and individual sponsors, which will help restock art supplies for students.
The nonprofit was founded by Morovati in 2010, with a mission to collect little-used or new crayons to donate to children in need all over the country.
“Morovati’s daughter was a year-and-a-half old and a finicky eater when the two would dine at California Pizza Kitchen and be given a pack of crayons prior to their meal,” according to a 2014 Post article. “At such a young age, her daughter would scribble a bit and be done. Morovati noticed the staff would throw away the nearly new crayons along with the napkins and straw wrappers left on the table at the end of the meal.”
Over time, Morovati continuously noticed this trend in kid-friendly dining establishments. This led her to start collecting the discarded crayons off of tables. In September 2010, she expanded her efforts and became the founder of Crayon Collection.
Now, Crayon Collection serves 30,000 low-income youth annually and aims to provide equal access to art education in vulnerable communities where art has been defunded. The organization has saved over 22 million crayons to date.
For more information or to get involved, contact info@crayoncollection.org.
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