Arts Disciplines
"Compton: Arts and Archives" explores the significance of the "Hub City" in arts, politics and culture, through community-based articles and archives, as well as essays and artist conversations from Sepia Collective. The series is edited by Jenise Miller.
Since time immemorial, artists have been using what is available to them to share their message. Learn how creativity cross-pollinates among disciplines.
Words have the power to shape realities and have helped transform communities. Read on for more stories of artists using literature to speak truth to power.
Gregory Everett was one of only a handful of Black Angelenos looking to document a seminal moment in the city's life. Using his life as a throughline and guided by Dr. Daniel Walker, KCET explores life in Los Angeles for the African American community in the 1980s and its repercussions today. Groove with the little-known precursor of West Coast hip-hop, explore the significance of public art in Crenshaw and see why stories need to be told by its community.
Poetry has and continues to be at the center of the most political questions. Explore L.A.'s thriving poetry scene and discover how artists use their poetic verse to speak up and speak out.
Explore stories about mariachis and mariachi music in L.A. and elsewhere.
Sway, step and slide. Dive into the world of dance with these stories.
The arts have always been used to tackle difficult issues on a wide scale. From poetry that ignites millions to photography that captures injustices, artists are using their creativity to make space for the marginalized and give light to untold stories.
Art doesn't exist in a vacuum. Often it is an expression of a community's desires and struggles. Explore how communities inform and enrich civic life, arts and culture.
Architecture has a long life span. What we build and create says multitudes about what we value. See the stories that are shaping the landscape of Los Angeles and beyond.
Once in his life, a man ought to concentrate his mind upon the remembered earth. He ought to give himself up to a particular landscape in his experience; to look at it from as many angles as he can, to wonder upon it, to dwell upon it.– N. Scott Momaday, "XXIV" from "The Way to Rainy Mountains"Classical antiquity recognized just four elements — air, earth, water and fire — from which everything had been made. These four no longer explain the world, but they retain, at least for me, a poetic capacity — a way of wondering upon where I am.D. J. Waldie is the author of "Becoming Los Angeles: Myth, Memory, and a Sense of Place." This series of essays called “Elemental L.A.” explores an Angeleno “sense of place” using the four classical elements as guides.
Día de los Muertos, the tradition of annually honoring deceased ancestors and loved ones on November 1 and 2, has been adapted for centuries from its pre-colonial roots to the popular depictions in mass media today. Inspired by Oaxacan traditions, it was brought to East Los Angeles in the 1970’s as a way to enrich and reclaim Chicano identity. Learn more about the tradition's roots and explore the various ways Día de los Muertos is celebrated across Southern California.