Festival for All Skid Row Artists

NEXT: 9th Festival for all Skid Row Artists

November 3 & 4, 2018 each day from noon – 4pm at SAN JULIAN PARK. (note that this year we won’t use Gladys park due to ongoing work there.)

The annual Festival for All Skid Row Artists has become one of the most anticipated grassroots cultural events in the area. Los Angeles Poverty Department celebrates and preserves the rich artistic heritage of Skid Row.

Since 2010 Los Angeles Poverty Department produces the Festival for All Skid Row Artists every 3rd weekend of October in Gladys Park in Skid Row (corner 6th Street and Gladys Avenue). The Festival encourages known neighborhood artists and identifies and brings together arts makers who are unknown even in their own Skid Row neighborhood. LAPD collects information about the artists, documents their work and has kept a registry of Skid Row artists, which now numbers more than 700.

In memoriam Linda Harris, performing her favorite song “I Hope You Dance”.

Downloadable PDF's

Making the Case for Skid Row Culture
Festival Newsletters
- 2017
- 2016
- 2015
- 2014
- 2013
- 2012
- 2011
- 2010

Making the Case for Skid Row Culture

In 2010, Animating Democracy, a program of Americans for the Arts, released “Making a Case for Skid Row Culture: Findings from a Collaborative Inquiry by the Los Angeles Poverty Department and the Urban Institute”. This study by John Malpede (Los Angeles Poverty Department) and Mario Rosario Jackson (Urban Institute) documents the role of arts and culture in Skid Row. This study found that culture comes from the ground up in Skid Row and is often initiated by residents and resident driven initiatives. This festival is undertaken to recognize these people and initiatives and to stimulate a new way of envisioning and talking about this neighborhood.

open 'Making the Case for Skid Row Culture'