2025 Cuyama Water Justice Fellowships
Throughout 2025, Blue Sky Center, in collaboration with Quail Springs, hosted artists to engage the residents of the Cuyama Valley on issues of groundwater and water justice that directly affect their lives. Artists created fun, all-ages, inclusive activities and events, working directly with the 1,100 residents of the agricultural Cuyama Valley.
““The Cuyama Water Justice Fellowship uplifts the voices and lived experiences of rural residents who have long been excluded from water decision-making. Through art, storytelling, and shared creativity, we’re building power and deepening our collective connection to the land and each other. At Quail Springs, we believe this kind of community-rooted engagement is essential for a just and sustainable water future.””
Rae Garringer
January 2025
The Water Justice Fellowship commenced in January with writer, oral historian, audio producer, and goat farmer, Rae Garringer. Based in southeastern West Virginia, Rae is resolutely committed to rural people and places, and they believe deeply in the power of documentary work made by and for rural communities. During their time in the Cuyama Valley, Rae interviewed Cuyama residents about their relationship with the Valley’s water crisis. These recorded testimonies have been edited together into a podcast episode The Battle Over Water Rights in Cuyama, CA that aired May 7th, 2025, on Rae’s podcast “Country Queers.” Listen to the episode below.
Sean Huntley and Alex Brown
March / October 2025
March 2025 brought documentary filmmaking team Sean Huntley and Alex Brown as the next round of Cuyama Water Justice Fellows. Based in Los Angeles, Huntley and Brown turn a lens on critical issues in their lifelong home of California. While in Cuyama, Sean and Alex documented the stories of Cuyama residents and their relationships to water. These stories were edited together into Act 1 of the documentary Dry Horizons that was released in October.
Ash Hanson and
Alex Barreto-Hathaway
May 2025
Ash Hanson and Alex Barreto-Hathaway, of PlaceBase Productions, organized the Celebrate Agua Parade. The project brought the community together through the townsite of New Cuyama to create songs, chants, handmade drums, and giant puppets who embody the River Saint, and the Thirsty Monster. Local youth dressed as Water Protectors and Dust Devils to celebrate, respect and share this precious resource for Cuyama. The process and event were documented with photos and a zine.
The 2025 Cuyama Water Justice Fellowships were part of the larger project “Building the Cuyama Valley Coalition of Water Stewards” led by Quail Springs, supported by Blue Sky Center. This project aimed to involve and engage the residents of the Cuyama Valley on conversations and advocacy related to the critical issue of water use and sustainability. The Cuyama Valley is a severely disadvantaged, hyper-rural, high desert community. The Cuyama Basin is “critically overdrafted” according to the Department of Water Resources. Persistent and historic lowering of groundwater levels in the Cuyama Valley has been documented by the U.S. Geological Service. Groundwater is the only source of water in this valley–for agriculture as well as domestic drinking water.
Funding for these fellowships was provided by the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) through the California Environmental Justice Action Grants program. A complete list of all California Environmental Justice Action Grants awardees can be found on the CalEPA website here.