Activarte: Detouring Displacement

Via Facebook:

You Are Cordially Invited to Join Local Boyle Heights Youth, MacArturos (Latin@ MacArthur Fellows), local residents, & Organizers at a very special Creative Lab!

Beginning at 6pm, Mariachi Plaza will be converted into a creative lab where local artists will be paired with “MacArturos” across a spectrum of disciplines to create instant workshops with local community member participation. Among the projects expected to unfold organically will be a large community altar with tributes to families that have been displaced due to rising rents or businesses that no longer exist.

Issues being addressed within the scope of the creative lab include gentrification, environmental racism, racism, preservation of cultural assets and “comadrazco” or “relationship-building” among like-minded residents and organizations to better examine all of these themes for increased dialogue and understanding about how these issues affect their daily lives. Young people, say organizers, should be part of these discussions since policy decisions made at every level will determine their futures directly for many years to come.

Further Information:
“ActivARTE DETOURING DISPLACEMENT: Community-Building con Arte, Cultura y Educación,” will follow a closed, intimate conversation between the “MacArturos” and Boyle Heights community youth leaders. ActivARTE will held at Mariachi Plaza from 6pm to 8pm. Organized under the rubric of The California Endowment-funded Building Healthy Communities-Boyle Heights (BHC-BH) initiative, the debut “Activarte” event is being spearheaded by representatives from East LA Community Corp., Casa 0101, Brooklyn & Boyle, YMCA, Maternal & Child Health Access (MCHA), the BHC collaborative and Brooklyn & Boyle.