Skid Row Puts on a Memorial Day Parade Extravaganza -- With the Help of Mr. Brainwash

Courtesy of Los Angeles Poverty Department 36 portraits of Skid Row visionaries by street artist Mr. Brainwash
At first glance, L.A.'s Skid Row doesn't seem like it would have a flourishing performance-art scene.
But Skid Row's Los Angeles Poverty Department -- abbreviated as, yes, LAPD -- was founded by director John Malpede in 1985 to develop the arts and culture of the city's well-known home to the homeless. Though its focus is interdisciplinary, LAPD is also the first performance group in the nation to be made up primarily of homeless or formerly homeless people. Its theory of social justice: Create change and supplant stereotypes by placing the community's narrative into its own hands.
This Memorial Day weekend, LAPD will host a three-day-long parade called "Walk the Talk" that will take place across Skid Row, led by a brass band called Paradigm Brass as well as pick-up musicians. Dozens of performances will take place at approximately 31 stops, each a symbolic site that will honor one of 36 men and women who have positively shaped the Skid Row community.
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