GOP Fires First Shots in a New Culture War?

So there were elections, and now radical, right wing powers are sharpening their agendas, with incoming House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Representative Eric Cantor (R-Va.) leading the way.

So the first shot is the demanded removal of David Wojnarowicz’s 1987 work, A Fire in My Belly, from display in the exhibition [...]

Political Art + Paris Metro = Princess Hijab

Apparently street art can still be used for reasons other than branding and ego tripping. Princess Hijab slaps veils on fashion adverts in the Paris Metro.  Interesting stuff.

Interview & slideshow, here. I love the phrase “cartography of crime”, although it sounds like something out of a 60′s Batman episode, or mainly because [...]

DCA Related Meeting at City Hall, Monday, March 22 @ 10 AM

Monday, March 22 @ 10 AM there will be a special meeting of the Arts, Parks, Health and Aging Committee at City Hall to discuss the Department of Cultural Affairs current budget. Tom LaBonge is the chair of the committee and he has been a great supporter and friend to the arts in LA [...]

DCA Update

I know it’s been quiet here lately, but I’m too busy to write well, and I’d rather not write poorly.

Department of Cultural Affairs head Olga Garay confirmed to KPCC that 33 out of 70 full time employees at the department are out. That’s 50% folks…

One of the interesting aspects of these layoffs [...]

City Council Meeting Wrap Up & Thank You

Wow, what a day. About a gazillion people turned up to support the Department of Cultural Affairs at today’s meeting.  Your letters, Emails, phone calls and presence in the meeting made all the difference today.  An extra special thank you to everyone who filled out a speaker card at today’s meeting and told the [...]

Jose Huizar to introduce motion 10a

Motion 10a will force the city to examine the dca’s economic impact, including the impact on grantees. This will show the city just how important the arts are to LA! Good news.

I hope you folks can read the motion in the photo above. Full text coming soon.

The motion to eliminate the transient occupancy tax has been put off

Our voices are being heard. More details coming. Garcetti described the DCA ask “taking cuts porportional to other departments”. We will see what that means.

Council Meeting Starting Now

Packed room. Olga Garay, Joe Smoke, Lee Sweet and Rosie Hooks from the DCA are here. Olga is talking with councilmembers Parks, Perry and Garcetti right now.

Mario Davila from LA’s Best is here. Artists Audrey Chan, Arley Villegas, Amy Inoyoue and Stuart Rapeport are here. Lots of performing arts people are here.

What MOCA’s Charles Young Does on His Day Off

Thought this was interesting. According to the fellows over at the Sacramento Bee’s CapitolAlert blog, Young has filed suit as an individual to ask the California Supreme Court to “declare that the state constitution’s requirement of two-thirds legislative votes to raise taxes is invalid.” Guess there’s more to life than wrangling MOCA and issuing [...]

Bergamot Update

Martha Groves at the LA Times has a pretty comprehensive piece detailing the Bergamot as light rail maintenance yard situation. So Bergamot is supposed to be the site of a future Expo Line station, the city loves Bergamot and wants it to stay as it is, and it’s a group of nearby residents opposed [...]