|
| |
|
| |
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
 |
Statements by Karen Atkinson, executive director, Side Street Projects
Description of partner Our mission is to support the creation and presentation of work by artists. Lots of places support the presentation, but we support the creation. We're one of the few places that do this in the country. Art has not been a part of our culture for a long time. It exists as a separate thing, but it's not part of the general culture. It's not in the schools, and kids grow up thinking it's separate from who they are and what they can be. That has led to a lot of problematic relationships. An SAT study showed that those students who had studied art did better on their overall test scores. Those who had no arts exposure at all scored the lowest. Description of project This was our first official project with LAPD. We served purely as presenter on this project. Normally, we partner directly with partners all the way through a project, but this one was already in the process. It was quite exciting for the LAPD performers to work in a professional-looking theater. Participating in the panels after was an amazing way for them to have a voice. They learned something about the war on drugs, but they also lived it, and they get to participate in this thing that affects their lives. We gave them space for rehearsal, plus provided props and the flags [a dozen or more U.S. flags lined the upstage wall] and the tables and tablecloths [a long table and chairs were the principle set pieces]. We set up the lighting and volunteers to facilitate, and we also did publicity and used our mailing list [and postage] to invite people to the event. You never know who's going to show up downtown [Almost all of the performances were full houses.] Impact of this project on the partner LAPD allows people who have had no exposure to art into an art milieu, to experience their own creativity and give them some skills, and a voice, which is particularly rare for people who are homeless or who live on Skid Row. One of the outcomes is we have now engaged in a full partnership with LAPD as theater-in-residence. We're also writing a grant with LAPD and the Homeless Writer's Project to do a history of Skid Row. We're collaborating with a number of organizations in Skid Row to pull it off, including an exhibition [of art by] homeless artists." Ferdinand Lewis is a founding member of The Ghost Road Company, an educator, writer and theater artist. He is currently at work on two books: "Ensemble Theater: An Anthology" and "Ensemble Theater: Traditions, Approaches, Strategies." He lives in Los Angeles. |
|
||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||
