L.A.: Once Upon A Multicultural Arts Haven

Los Angeles in the 1980's and 90's was a time of multi cultural, multi district, multi sexual orientation creation and collaboration. Art, music, dance, fashion, performance art, theater, graffiti art, murals, indy filmmaking, print media all leaving their mark on the map of this vast LA-LA landscape. These were the pre FundMe days when if you had a project in mind you either applied for an arts grant, found a benefactor or you held fundraisers. A lot of time and effort was donated by artists themselves. There were plenty of arts supporters who gave their time and money as well. Why? Because local arts kept our city authentic and alive with a true sense of how our cultural and ethnic differences were alike in so many ways. That's not to say there weren't outlying areas that didn't wish to participate in the grand scheme of a melting pot theory. They were there in the comfort zones hiding behind curtains and valleys which was just fine for us without a monocultural mindset. Over the decades there was a shift in the City of Angels' terrain. The roads leading us to and from one community to another had been engulfed by the internet super highway. Fiber optical delusion of grandure nomads soaking up local color snapped selfies for the world wide web to see. The wagon trails of the old west had been dusted off by politicians for the new breed of gentrifying Trust-Fund baby settlers. Communties with histories rich with culture and contribution to creating a multiethnic metropolis were soon whitewashed to the point of ironic insignificance. All this took place in plain sight but we were all too busy checking social mierda to see what was taking place and who was taking our place. L.A. city budget cuts to arts programs were overshadowed by corporate sponsorships to artists whose individuality was molded to meet the standards of the brand they were marketing, not the community they represented. The sleight of hand generational land grabbing house flippers and developers performed character assassinations to structures transforming an historic L.A. landscape to the likes of a nursery school building blocks skyline. None of what has transpired over the past four decades was by accident. The removal of arts programs in public schools and public funding was intended to break down the unity between communities and culture. Creative thinking opens minds. It allows us to color outside the lines. It gives us the ability to break free from conformity. It fosters independent thinking. It offers opportunity to share our stories in our words/images/style without being caricatured into stereotypes to fit the American narrative. The divisive domain gatekeeper mentality displayed on the streets of Los Angeles today is a sad end result of how the arts have been capitalized to the point of nationalized self-interest and alienization of those who do not comply with conservative constructs.

Los Angeles Festival ran from September 1 - 16, 1990 a total of 70 venues across Los Angeles hosted multicultural ticketed theater/performance, dance, music, literature, film and video, and visual arts events. A series of Around Town free events were hosted at Angel's Gate and Point Fermin Park, Pan-Indian Pow Wow, African Marketplace, Olvera Street and Union Station, Moon Festival, Pacific Asia Museum, Griffith Park, Mariachi Festival, Jack's Placita, Plaza de la Raza, Wat Thai, Cal Plaza, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Santa Monica Pier, El Grito, Descanso Gardens, The Open Festival and KCET Programs.