Walk the Talk parade in Skid Row, 2018. Photo by Monica Nouwens © Los Angeles Poverty Department.
This program is free and open to the public, but space is limited! Please RSVP by emailing rsvp@abladeofgrass.org.
Are you working on a socially engaged art project in Los Angeles? A Blade of Grass is collaborating with social practice art funder SPArt to offer one Los Angeles-based fellowship for socially engaged art each year from 2019-2021. The A Blade of Grass-SPArt Fellowship for Los Angeles supports projects that are located in and meaningfully engage with LA County communities.
To learn more, join us September 13 in LA at the Skid Row History Museum and Archive, where we’ll host a workshop for applicants that will include hands-on, interactive approaches to helping artists with their proposals.
The workshop will begin with a presentation by Director of Programs Prerana Reddy about the application process and format, followed by a Q&A. 2019 A Blade of Grass-SPArt Fellows for Los Angeles John Malpede, Henriëtte Brouwers and Rosten Woo will then present their project and experience as Fellowship applicants. Malpede and Brouwers direct the performance group Los Angeles Poverty Department, which performs and curates exhibitions at the Skid Row History Museum and Archive. Their presentation will be followed by small group sessions where participants will receive feedback on their projects or proposal ideas, focusing on key questions to determine fit with the Fellowship.
Click here to review eligibility requirements and learn more about the Fellowship.
Click here to download two sample fellowship applications and helpful questions to determine your project’s fit with the Fellowship.
This program is free and open to the public, but space is limited! Please RSVP by emailing rsvp@abladeofgrass.org.
About the Artists
John Malpede is the Artist Director of Los Angeles Poverty Department, which he founded in 1985. He directs, performs, writes and makes multi-event projects. In addition to local productions, LAPD has produced projects around the US, Europe and in South America. In 2004, Malpede’s project RFK in EKY re-created Robert Kennedy’s investigation into Appalachian poverty in a 4-day, 200-mile series of events that brought focus to poverty today. In 2008 as a fellow at MIT, he created the performance and video project Bright Futures in response to the financial crisis. In 2013, received a Doris Duke Performing Artist Award. Malpede and LAPD Associate Director Henriëtte Brouwers are joint recipients of the City of Santa Monica Visual Arts Fellow Award for 2019.
Henriëtte Brouwers is a performer, director, teacher and producer, and has been the Associate Director of LAPD since 2000. Prior to joining LAPD, Brouwers directed and performed original theater works in The Netherlands, France, Belgium, Poland and US. Brouwers, directs, co-directs and performs in many LAPD performances. In addition to creating a series of performances based on the legend of La Llorona, she worked with John Malpede on the creation of RFK in EKY, a community-based re-enactment of Robert F. Kennedy’s 1968 trip to investigate poverty in Appalachia. She is featured in artist Bill Viola’s The Passions series. Brouwers produces LAPD’s annual Festival for All Skid Row Artists. Brouwers and Malpede are co-recipients of the City of Santa Monica’s 2019 Visual Artist Fellowship.
Rosten Woo is an artist, designer, and writer living in Los Angeles. His projects aim to help people understand complex systems, re-orient themselves to places, and participate in group decision-making. He acts as a collaborator and consultant to a variety of grassroots organizations including Little Tokyo Service Center, the Black Workers Center, Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, and Esperanza Community Housing Corporation, as well as the city of Los Angeles, and the California State Parks. His work has been exhibited at the Cooper-Hewitt Design Triennial, the Venice Architecture Biennale, and various piers, public housing developments, shopping malls, and parks. He is co-founder and former executive director of the Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP), winner of the 2016 National Design Award for institutional achievement. His book “Street Value” about race and retail urban development was published by Princeton Architectural Press in 2009.
