Skid Row’s Artistic Oasis
Organized annually by the Los Angeles Poverty Department (not that LAPD) and supported by a variety of local organizations that offer services for the community, the Skid Row Arts Festival provides a stage for neighborhood artists and performers to showcase their work and talents to the public. Hosted in Gladys Park in the heart of Skid Row, the festival provides something of an oasis for a neighborhood is often overshadowed by bleak portrayals of poverty in the media.
Boisterous performances cycle through the center stage, as singers, dancers, and musicians make their art heard and seen. Visual art surrounds the area, hanging on walls, fences, and tables. Several lines of tents surround the perimeter, dedicated to providing information on resources for festival attendees. The services range from food to housing to health to faith. One housing organization invites passersby to add to a communal painting that already sported flowers, amorphous splotches of color, and an unaddressed “I love you.” I add a color gradient to a corner to fill in the white space.
Carefree dancing, hugs, and selfies are seen all around. Everybody seems to know everybody else in this colorful, tight-knit community — I overhear countless gleeful reunions. This vibrant, celebratory environment seemed like an ideal place for a loved one to return to your life.
