Shana Nys DambrotSo many of L.A.’s most historic and culturally rich neighborhoods are under economic pressure and facing the forces of gentrification at an alarmingly rapid (more than usual) pace. While the most urgent issues are humanistic and practical, there is also the threat of cultural erasure to be dealt with, as the important legacies of the communities who built these neighborhoods are in danger of being displaced along with their residents.
DCA and partners from the city and nationally are doing something about that, through their participation in the Promise Zone Arts (PZA) initiative. Supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts (Thanks, Obama!) DCA’s partners in the project are L.A. Commons and the Alliance for California Traditional Art, which is dedicated to highlighting cultural figures and sites that area residents themselves have put forward as cultural treasures — people, groups, events, places and practices.
The overall project is a sort of interdisciplinary story archive, focusing on placemaking, home, and history with a hyperlocal approach that lets each neighborhood speak in its own voice. The first PZA — Promise Zone Arts: Central L.A. — includes MacArthur Park; Pico-Union; East Hollywood; and sections of Hollywood and Koreatown, and is set to celebrate its years of work this weekend, as the Promise Zone Arts Live! cultural festival takes place in MacArthur Park on Saturday, September 21, noon to 4 p.m.
Music, art, food, and dance at Promise Zone Live! includes local bands, traditional folk dance, drummers, DJs and festival headliner Very Be Careful, the LA-based band whose Colombian music evolves from traditional cumbia. In between sets, check out fruit-carving workshops or a Mesoamerican ballgame, sample free local cuisine, and take artist Artoon’s street art workshop.
FB Event: facebook.com/events/379808949361299
PZA: promisezonearts.org
Performances
Very Be Careful
DJ: Chulita Vinyl Club
MC: Betto Arcos, KPFK’s Global Village
Maqueos Music Academy
Imperial Court of LA and Hollywood
Chervona Kalyna Dance Group
El Cortez
Lan Nartthasin Thai Dance Group
Cultural Interactive Workshops
Afro-Peruvian Drum Circle with Gino Gamboa
Fruit Carving with Thai Health and Information Services, Inc.
Filipino Dance with Bibak
Street Art with Artoon
Mesoamerican Ballgame with Raul Herrera
In 2016, South Los Angeles applied and became the second Promise Zone in L.A., making it the only city in the US with two Promise Zones. Promise Zone Arts: South L.A. will also provide for cultural asset mapping and presenting, and is set to start following the current showcase in September 2019.
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