About Riva

RIVA is a charity which provides artist residencies both in its Hackney studio and in schools.  It gives participants the opportunity to experience directly the creative process by working alongside artists and to produce high quality artwork themselves both individually and collectively.

Through awards to selected  organisations it supports visual education for people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds.

It strives to enable the participants to achieve their creative, personal and intellectual potential and to have the opportunity to develop new strategies for making, understanding and appreciating art.

The resulting confidence and ownership of the art work has a very positive impact on other areas of life.

'The RIVA Art (project) was so amazing, I think I am very lucky to join in and it's like a way of capturing the lovely memories and treasuring them in your heart.' - Sawdah

‘I love art because you learn when to stop.’ - Esra

Riva has a particular interest in running art projects which relate environmental concerns to children creatively through imagination and mythology. Examples of this are The Forest is our Supermarket, The Bee Museum, Animal Spirits, RIVA believes there  needs to first be a positive connected experience to nature in order  to nurture a wish to protect it.

The urgency of the environmental crisis facing the world has made RIVA’s priority a commitment to designing art projects for children and young people that inform creatively.

RIVA works primarily in Hackney, Islington, and Southwark.