Photo by: Monica Nouwens
“Welcome to the Covid Hotel” performance by Los Angeles Poverty Department, March 9, 2024.
Photo by: Monica Nouwens
Installation view, ‘Welcome to the Covid Hotel,’ Skid Row History Museum & Archive, 2024.
Photo by: Monica Nouwens
Installation view, ‘Welcome to the Covid Hotel,’ Skid Row History Museum & Archive, 2024.
Los Angeles Poverty Department
Fund: $26,000
Founded in 1985, Los Angeles Poverty Department (LAPD) is a non-profit arts organization made up principally of homeless people which connects the experiences of people living in poverty to the sociopolitical forces that shape their lives and communities. This mission is achieved through multidisciplinary artworks that interweave performances, installations, exhibitions, public conversations, and archival documentation—all developed, produced, and presented collaboratively with Skid Row community members to address their emerging concerns.
Walk the Talk is no ordinary walk. It’s a biannual parade! L.A. Poverty Department brings Skid Row to life with performances along the parade route that pay tribute to neighborhood initiatives and the men and women whose contributions to the community call for a big, blaring celebration! Skid Row residents and stakeholders choose eight honorees who are interviewed, and LAPD's Skid Row resident performers distill the interviews into 15-minute performances. These are performed during the parade at sites selected by each honoree, which determine the parade route. A brass band leads them, dancing through the streets, from one scene / site to the next.
Awardees
