The clip above is from the most recent live performance piece from the Los Angeles Poverty Department (LAPD), an arts organization based in Skid Row that, as they say on their website, “tells the rest of the story, what you don’t hear elsewhere.” I am featuring them in what I hope to be an ongoing series of profiles of groups doing work related to cultural organizing. The information in this post was drawn largely from a profile by Javiera Benavente at the Arts and Democracy Project, and from a report put out by LAPD and the Urban Institute on the cultural assets of Skid Row, as well as from the group’s website.

Founded in 1984 by artist and activist John Malpede as the first theater company in the country to be comprised mainly of homeless and formerly homeless community members. (more…)