RFK in EKY, The Robert F. Kennedy Performance Project, is a series of public conversations and activities centered around the real-time, site-specific intermedia performance that recreated, on September 9th and 10th 2004, Robert Kennedy’s two-day, 200 mile “poverty tour” of southeastern Kentucky in 1968.
An Appalshop project directed by John Malpede.
Los Angeles Poverty Department, founded in 1985, is
made up of people who make art and live and work on Skid Row.LAPD
tells the rest of the story, what you don’t hear elsewhere.We create change by telling the story
of the community in a way that supports the initiatives of community residents.We want the narrative of the
neighborhood to be in the hands of neighborhood people.We work to generate this narrative and
to supplant narratives that perpetuate stereotypes used to keep the
neighborhood people down or to justify displacing the community. We want to
create recognition of the community and it’s values.
Los Angeles Poverty Department (LAPD) creates performances and multidisciplinary
artworks that connect the experience of people living in poverty to the social
forces that shape their lives and communities. LAPD’s works express the
realities, hopes, dreams and rights of people who live and work in L.A.'s Skid
Row.
John Malpede, directs, performs and engineers multi-event arts projects that have theatrical, installation, public art and education components. In 1985 Malpede founded and continues to direct the Los Angeles Poverty Department (LAPD), the first performance group in the nation comprised primarily of homeless and formerly homeless people. LAPD creates performances that connect lived experience to the social forces that shape the lives and communities of people living in poverty. Malpede has produced projects working with communities throughout the US and in the UK, France, The Netherlands, Belgium and Bolivia.
In 2004 Malpede’s project RFK in EKY, was produced by Appalshop, and developed with a host of community partners. This monumental, real-time documentary-style performance by a large community cast, sought to put an historical mirror up to present moment life in eastern Kentucky. RFK in EKY recreated Kennedy’s original “war on poverty” tour in the course of a four-day, 200 mile series of events that included, performance, installations, and in-depth discussion of historic and current events and social policy. He involved a number of his closest artist / collaborators in elements of this project including, Henriëtte Brouwers, David Michalek, Harrell Fletcher and Sjoerd Wagenaar.
Malpede was fellow at MIT's Center for Advanced Visual Studies during the early months of the economic crisis where, at MIT’s business school, he found divergent points of view on causes, extent and remedies for the economic crisis. Malpede’s Bright Futures was extrapolated from these contradictory responses that included a business school pep-talk for anxious future quants (financial engineers) and MIT economist Simon Johnson’s condemnation of the financial “oligarchy”. Bright Futures was realized as a performance, but also as a video installation on the MIT campus. The performance was shown at MIT, in NYC’s Performa 2009 Festvial and in 2010 at Ohio University.
Malpede has received New York’s Dance Theater Workshop Bessie Creation Award, San Francisco Art Institute's Adeline Kent Award, Durfee Sabbatical Grant, LA Theater Alliance Ovation Award, Individual artist fellowships from New York State Council on the Arts, NEA, California Arts Council, City of Los Angeles' COLA fellowship, California Community Foundation's Visual Artist Fellowship and numerous project grants.
Also visit: www.johnmalpede.info
LOS ANGELES POVERTY DEPARTMENT - BOARD OF DIRECTORS 2011
Laurence M. Lavin, member since 1996 (President)
Attorney John Malpede, member since 1988 (Vice President)
Director, Los Angeles Poverty Department Julia Carnahan, member since 2009 (Treasurer)
Arts Producer Catherine Gudis, member since 2011 (Secretary)
Historian
Henriëtte Brouwers, associate director and producer Henriëtte Brouwers is a performer, director and teacher. As Associate Director she has worked with the Los Angeles Poverty Department since 2000. Born in the Netherlands, Brouwers has a degree from the Academie voor Expressie door Woord en Gebaar in her native country and studied corporeal mime with Etiènne Décroux and ‘theatre of the oppressed‘ with Augusto Boal in Paris. She was invited to present her work in the US by the Theatre Project in Baltimore in 1993 and has since performed and taught at Towson University and the Baltimore Highschool for the Arts, UT of Knoxville and Touchstone Theatre in Bethlehem. She was movement director for Blue Monk, directed by Ed Smith for the 1996 Olympic Arts Festival in Atlanta, Georgia. Highways Performance Space presented her solo: la Lengua, the tongue of Cortés in 2000. Inspired by Mexican legends about women, Brouwers directed Weeping Women and War at Pomona College, Weeping Women on Skid Row and La Llorona of Echo Park with LAPD. In 2003–4, Brouwers worked with John Malpede on the creation of RFK in EKY a community-based re-enactment of Robert F. Kennedy’s 1968 trip to investigate poverty in Appalachia. She is also featured in artist Bill Viola’s renowned The Passions series, which has been exhibited extensively in major museums throughout the world.
and
Kevin Michael Key, performer and community coordinator
Kevin Michael Key is a law school graduate and has practiced as a
defense attorney. He is active in the recovery community in downtown Los
Angeles and in community advocacy groups. He works part-time for United
Coalition East Prevention Project to mobilize the neighborhood on
quality of life issues. He does community diabetes education with the
JWHC clinic. Kevin Michael has worked with LAPD since 2003 and has
traveled with LAPD for community residencies in New York, Charlotte, NC,
Utrecht, The Netherlands, the Paris, France suburb of Gennevilliers and Bolivia.
As a member of LA Poverty Department Kevin Michael is responsible for
linking communities, organizing workshops and public convening’s and
speaking with the press.
Feb. 13- May 29: Police and Thieves, exhibition, curated by Karla Diaz and Mario Ybarra
@ Gallery 4 at the Hyde Park ArtCenter in Chicago, IL.
July 5-31: 'PORTRAITS IN DRAMATIC TIME' by David Michalek, Commissioned by Lincoln Center Festival 2011.
Los Angeles Poverty Department is featured in a large scale public art installation of slow motion video
performance-portraits @ Avery Fisher Hall, New York.
2010
Jan. 25:Making the Case for Skid Row Culture - Findings
from a Collaborative Inquiry by the Los Angeles Poverty
Department and the Urban Institute -published on the Animating
Democracy Initiative web page of Americans for the Arts. Presentation of the paper @ the
Japanese American Cultural and Community
Center for the Skid Row Community.
May 20: Parole Reform
Shakeout: Who Wins and Who Loses?
PANEL
& DISCUSSION about the Effects of California's Parole Reform on Parolees,
People Getting Out and Transitional Programs Downtown.
@ the Central City
Community Church in Skid Row.
STATE OF INCARCERATION, directed by John Malpede and Henriëtte Brouwers
June 9 @Central City Community Church on Skid Row.
June 10 @LA Community Action Network on Skid Row.
July 22: REWEAVING
THE SOCIAL FABRIC OF SKID ROW
A
conversation about LAPD’s ‘Walk the Talk’ a theater project that
chronicles the emergence of a
permanent community and culture in Skid Row @ theALOUD series of the LA Public
library.
Panelists:
Pete White
(LA Community Action Network), OG man (Skid Row 3 on 3 basketball),
Clyde Casey (Another Planet), Jeff Dietrich (LA Catholic
Worker) and John Malpede (LA Poverty Department), moderator: Maria
Rosario Jackson (Urban Institute).
STATE OF INCARCERATION, directed by John Malpede and Henriëtte Brouwers
Aug. 12 @ Behavioral Systems SW Inc, van Nuys
Aug. 14 @ Jonahproject, Skid Row
Aug.
21 @ AMITY Foundation Re-entry Program, LA
Nov. 6 - Nov. 20: Installation and Performances @ BOX Gallery, Chinatown, LA
Dec. 17 @ Chuco's Justice High School, Inglewood
Dec. 4: LAPD produced the ‘Festival for All Skid Row Artists’ in Gladys Park.
2009
MAY 1 and 2: CPR: a Public Training in Life Saving Skills, directed by Henriëtte Brouwers and John Malpede. With a combined cast of OPCC and LAPD - celebrating the 20 year anniversary
of Highways Performance Space and 18th Street Arts Center.
@ Highways Performance Space, Santa Monica.
MAY 5: EMPLOYING HIS TELEPATHIC POWERS, MR. SMALLMAN FIGHTS FOR JUSTICE IN THE INJUSTICE SYSTEM, presentation of a year-long workshop, directed by Henriëtte Brouwers and John Malpede with LAMP residents and LAPDers.
@ the LAMP Village, Skid Row.
May 17: Los Angeles Poverty Department receives the Otto Award for Political Theatre produced by the Castillo Theatre in New York.
Aug. 2 - 24: AGENTES y ACTIVOS, directed by John Malpede.
Bolivian tour of the AGENTS & ASSETS performance in Spanish.
Performed in Cochabamba, Oruro, La Paz, El Alto, Sucre, Plan 3000 and Santa Cruz.
2008
Jan.: AGENTS & ASSETS in New York, directed by John Malpede.
@ Housing Works Bookstore Cafe, Manhattan,
St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Harlem and at Housing Works in the East
Brooklyn.
Feb. - April: RED BEARD/RED BEARD, directed by John Malpede.
Co-production of LAPD and Theatre2Gennevilliers.
@ Theatre2Gennevilliers, Gennevilliers, Paris.
May 19:ROUND TRIP, LAPD recreates an Allan Kaprow "Happening" on Skid Row.
In collaboration with The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA: Allen Kaprow- Art as Life.
June 13: John Malpede performs "Cruel, Unusual Outrages Upon Personal Dignity, Punishment And Humiliating Degrading Treatment" as part of the City of Los Angeles Literary and Performing Fellows Grand Performances @ Cal Plaza.
June 21 and 22: La Llorona: Weeping Women of Echo Park, directed by Henriëtte Brouwers.
@ Echo Park United Methodist Church, Los Angeles.
June 28 - Aug. 2: Skid Row History Museum
@ The BOX Gallery in Chinatown, Los Angeles.
Live From Skid Row: PERFORMANCE & PUBLIC CONVERSATION JUNE 28 @ The Box Gallery: Jeff Dietrich and Catherine Morris of
the Catholic Worker and the Hippie Kitchen remember remarkable people
and initiatives. Music from SS Jones and Oscar Harvey. Performances
by Ibrahim Saba and Kevin Michael Key.
JULY 18 @
Lamp Community Art Project Gallery: Public discussion with Pete White
and Becky Dennison of LA Community Action Network (LACAN). Music from
Weba Garretson and Ralph Gorodetsky. Performance by Michelle Autry and
Sunshine Mills. JULY 26 @ The Box Gallery: Public discussion with Mollie Lowery,
founder and first executive director of Lamp Community. Music from Code
Zero. Performance by Tony Parker and Charles Porter. AUGUST 2 @ The Box Gallery: Public discussion with Ted Hayes,
founder of Dome Village. Music from Church of the Nazarene Gospel Choir
and Lucky Dragon. Performance by Riccarlo Porter.
October 11 2008 - January 4 2009: Espèces d’espace,
curated by Yves Aupetitallotarchives.
@ MAGASIN - Centre National d'Art Contemporain de Grenoble (France).
The exhibition dedicates a room
to the Los Angeles Poverty Department with elements (audio /video,
pictures, notes, performance texts, etc.) of LAPD's archive from 1985
to 1990.
December 20, 27, 28: My Eyes are the Cage in my Head written and directed by Ron Allen.
@ The Box Gallery in Chinatown, the Church of the Nazarene in Skid Row and the Industry Cafe & Jazz in Culver City.
2007
Jan. / Feb. / March: LEGAL*ILLEGAL, directed by John Malpede.
Co-production
of Nieuwpoort theater and Unie de Zorgelozen, Belgium and LAPD.
Performed in former Tax-building 'de Poel' in Gent, Belgium.
April - December: UTOPIA/dystopia, Los Angeles.
April 19: Is it a crime to be poor? screening of The REAL DEAL, Tom Jones’ film on LAPD at the
ALOUD series at the Central Library.
June- Nov.: Glimpses of Utopia 1 -37: Five evenings of performances and presentations by people who are making
"utopian" contributions to life in downtown Los Angeles.
Nov. 16: 220 Glimpses of Utopia an Outdoor-Utopian-Movement-Chain from Skid Row to City Hall, directed by Henriette Brouwers.
Dec. 6 - 8: UTOPIA/dystopia performances directed by John Malpede.
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John Malpede, directs, performs and engineers multi-event arts projects that have theatrical, installation, public art and education components. In 1985 Malpede founded and continues to direct the Los Angeles Poverty Department (LAPD), the first performance group in the nation comprised primarily of homeless and formerly homeless people. LAPD creates performances that connect lived experience to the social forces that shape the lives and communities of people living in poverty. Malpede has produced projects working with communities throughout the US and in the UK, France, The Netherlands, Belgium and Bolivia.
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