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Save the Monarchs

Save the Monarchs is an opportunity for Hoosiers to meet an environmental challenge with a combination of art, science and action. On Earth Day Indiana Festival, the kids tent will be teaming with kids making butterfly wings to use in a parade at the festival — and to the Artsgarden to see the exhibit and back.

They are a gateway creature to love the earth…especially with kids.”

Earth Charter Indiana and the Arts Council of Indianapolis have partnered to bring swarms of monarch butterflies to the Indianapolis Artsgarden this Spring. Beginning Monday, April 13, all are invited to come view the artistic butterflies created from repurposed materials by 4th and 5th graders in Indiana. The exhibition will include information and a call to action for each viewer who would like to help Save the Monarchs!

Inspired by the precipitous decline in the monarch butterfly population, young artists are creating monarch butterfly sculptures made from re-purposed materials. Monarchs face numerous challenges, including human development, the use of herbicides and pesticides, and climate change.

For Jim Poyser, Executive Director of Earth Charter Indiana, Save the Monarchs is an opportunity for Hoosiers “to meet an environmental challenge with a combination of art, science and action. With this exhibition we can spread awareness about their plight and the solutions that are at our fingertips: create butterfly habitat by planting milkweed and other nectar sources.”

What I’ve noticed about kids is that…when they find out there is a problem, they just want to fix it.”

April is also National Poetry Month so you will also hear poets reading their work each Monday at lunchtime as well as experience a new poem created especially for the Monarch Butterflies by local Indiana poets.

Special partners include: Brick Street Poetry Inc., Earth Day Indiana, Indiana Recycling Coalition, Keep Indianapolis Beautiful and Nopal Cultural Center.

The Artsgarden, located at the intersection of Illinois and Washington Streets, downtown Indy, is open 7 days a week: Mon-Sat 10am – 9pm and Sunday noon- 6pm. At the Earth Day Indiana Festival, on April 25, held at White River State Park, children will construct monarch butterfly wings then parade to the Artsgarden and back.

For more information about Earth Charter Indiana, visit their website at www.earthcharterindiana.org.

You can help celebrate the environment at the FREE Earth Day Indiana Festival.  For more information visit www.earthdayindiana.org

SEGMENT IS SPONSORED BY EARTH DAY INDIANA