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'

12th Festival for All Skid Row Artists
October 16, 2021 in Gladys park

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We called this year, “the half-way back festival” as it took place live in – as this year’s festival MC Coach Ron would say, “…in world famous, Gladys Park, in world famous Skid Row.” –but on one day rather than the customary two. That meant we packed one performance on top of another. Many artists who have performed at the festival for years were eager to be back: Lyrical Storm, Crushow, Rosa Miller, La Ronda, Unkal Bean, the Cubano Percussion group from the corner of 5th and San Pedro Streets, Robin Hoodloom, DJ Sir Oliver, Urban Voices Project, Street Symphony, Big Mama and Silkii. Lee Maupin, a well-known performer in Skid Row who does James Brown dance moves including the splits— graciously gave up his time slot to accommodate newcomers who’d just found out about the Festival days before when a dozen LAPD’ers fanned out through the neighborhood going tent to tent looking for singers, dancers, actors and visual artists. And we found them, pop lockers like Mr. Dimples (who didn’t actually show), the rappers –Young Kilo and Ayoo Duce who did show, Divine Being who read a pretty profound text and Kenneth Ross, who brought his abstract paintings on wood from around the block where he’d had them propped up against a metal fence.

10th Festival for All Skid Row Artists
October 26 & 27, 2019 in Gladys park

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This year, the Goethe-Institut was an additional producing partner. The Goethe-Institut organized the event series “Worlds of Homelessness”, including discussions, music and film screenings, that began Tuesday October 22, at LA Poverty Department’s Skid Row History Museum & Archive (with additional sites at Sci-Arc and Navel). The project brings together local and international artists, architects, scholars and others and culminates with the 2 days of the Festival.

“Worlds of Homelessness” opened with music by the LA Playmakers and the Playmakers will close out the Festival on Sunday afternoon. The LA Playmakers are a local band founded by Joseph Warren and Stan Watson 5yrs ago. These accomplished professional musicians have played with a number of well known jazz and pop music figures. They can play anything, R&B, Hip-Hop, Reggae, Gospel– and they do.  The band members have one thing in common. They all were members of the Praise and Worship Team at Skid Row’s Central City Church of the Nazarene.

8th Festival for All Skid Row Artists

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7th Festival for All Skid Row Artists

click to open 2016 festival newsletter