“Save The Drop” Campaign to Exhibit Water Conservation Art Installation in Union Station

To spread the word about its “Save the Drop” water conservation campaign, the Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles will partner with artist Scoli Acosta to display an art installation in Union Station from March 12 – 24. The sculptural piece will feature rain barrels and a cistern (a larger water storage container that can be installed underground), and will demonstrate how individuals and families can collect rainwater at their homes. Over the following months, the installation will travel to other iconic L.A. locations to amplify the Save the Drop message.

A Los Angeles native, Scoli Acosta is known for repurposing and reshaping found objects, ever drawn to humble materials and economic gestures in an organic and associative process. On his design for Save the Drop, Acosta said, “It’s exciting to work with the city toward an awareness of working with the resources of the skies. Resourcefulness and the poetics of the everyday are important to me.”

Since April 2015, the Save the Drop campaign inspired Angelenos citywide to save water and access existing tools and rebates. A joint program of the Mayor’s Fund, the City of Los Angeles, and Los Angeles-based creative agency Omelet, Save the Drop is also a key component of Mayor Garcetti’s signature Sustainable City pLAn. The Mayor’s pLAn lays out ambitious targets for water conservation and increasing our local water supply that include reducing water use by 20% by 2017, and reducing our reliance on purchased imported water by 50% by 2025.

Working through mass media, social media, and on-the-ground community engagement, Save the Drop offers bilingual information on outdoor water use, drought-tolerant landscaping, indoor water reduction, and rainwater capture.

“The Save the Drop campaign has had a powerful effect on Angelenos’ response to our drought,” said Mayor Eric Garcetti. “Scoli Acosta’s art will help to further inspire us to conserve and illustrate the beauty in the resources we have at hand. I am proud to bring this talented Los Angeles artist to Union Station. ”

“Leveraging local creative resources to help Angelenos visualize how they can be part of the drought’s solution is a prime example of how the Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles brings together public, private, and nonprofit resources to tackle critical city issues,” said Deidre Lind, President of the Fund. “For the thousands of commuters and tourists who pass through Union Station, Scoli Acosta’s dynamic and surprising installation may spark the kind of connection between beauty and conservation that will help Los Angeles adapt to a dry climate.”

And dry it is, even in this El Niño year. The statewide snowpack, the source of much of California’s water supply, is only 83 percent of the March 1 average, the result of moderate precipitation since last October and relatively warm temperatures.

The installation’s creation was supported by multiple partners connected to the Save the Drop campaign. Rain Barrels International donated the four rain barrels included in the installation. Hey! Tanks LA donated the 865-gallon cistern, offered expertise on rainwater capture, and provided a subsidized working space for the artist in their warehouse. Rain Gutters LA donated used gutters.

Acosta’s artwork highlights the central role L.A.’s thriving arts scene can play in environmental education. Born in 1973 and raised in East Los Angeles, where he currently lives, Acosta has exhibited his work throughout L.A., San Diego, New York, and France. An artist of many mediums, Acosta focuses his installations around the recombination and adaptation of “everyday” objects to articulate his creative vision. Acosta studied fine art at the Kansas City Art Institute and at Ultimate Akademie in Cologne, Germany and is represented by Galerie Laurent Godin in Paris. He is a recent recipient of the California Community Foundation’s Mid-Career Fellowship for Visual Artists. Visit http://www.scoliacosta.com for more information.

For more information and tips for conserving water, visit www.savethedropla.org.

About the Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles

The Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to improving life for all Angelenos. Bringing together institutions and experts from across the City, the Fund supports programs that will create transformative change across Los Angeles, making it a world leader in economic prosperity, government efficiency, community resiliency, and quality of life for all of its residents. Uniquely positioned at the crossroads of local government, business, philanthropy, and non-profits, the Fund enables communication and collaboration that will tackle some of Los Angeles’ most complex challenges. The Fund is supported by private donations and is overseen by an independent Board of Directors. More information can be found at www.mayorsfundla.org.

About Omelet

Omelet is a creative company that solves complex marketing problems for progressive partners, including AT&T, HBO, Microsoft, Ubisoft, and Walmart. The company also has divisions – including Omelet Studio and Omelet Brands – to create original brand programming and original owned intellectual property.  http://www.omeletla.com