LOS ANGELES– Walk the Talk Parade to Chronicle the Ongoing History of Skid Row

LOS ANGELES — Join the iconic and acclaimed performance company Los Angeles Poverty Department for the 2018 edition of its biennial Walk the Talk Parade and Performance chronicling the ongoing history of Skid Row, celebrating the accomplishments of the Skid Row community, and honoring some of the individuals who have made extraordinary contributions to the community of Skid Row, making a difference in people’s lives every day.   This year’s honorees are Tiffany Rose – founder of My Friends House LA; Steve Diaz – Deputy Director of Organizing at Los Angeles Community Action Network; Bobby Buck – Skid Row’s video / photographer and founder of The Bobby Buck Show; Vijay Gupta – founder of Street Symphony; Demetra Wilson-Washington – outreach Minister with Central City Community Outreach; Andy Bales – Executive Director of the Union Rescue Mission; Eddie H. – Skid Row advocate, active in creating the ReFresh Spot; Pastor Cue – founder of Tha Row- Church Without Walls. Saturday, April 21, 2018 11:00AM– 3:00PM Parade route begins at 800 East 6th Street (corner of East 6th Street and Stanford Ave.) Led by the brass band of L.A. Philharmonic violinist Vijay Gupta’s Street Symphony, together with community musicians, the parade makes its way through Skid Row, stopping at eight locations in the neighborhood. At each stop the actors and musicians of L.A. Poverty Department will do a short performance recounting the history and significance of each site and the story of the individual who is making a difference there. The audience is encouraged to follow this fun, funky and festive parade with its floats, costumes and sets designed by community artists, featuring portraits of the honorees by Skid Row artist and muralist CruShow Herring. Bring your tambourine, cowbell, laughter and spirit – be a part of the celebration! Audience members are encouraged to dress festively but appropriately for the weather and wear comfortable shoes, bring water and snacks. Additional information, including the exact parade route, is available online at www.lapovertydept.org. L.A. Poverty Department’s Walk the Talk is made possible in part by grants from the City of Los Angeles, Department of Cultural Affairs and the Los Angeles County Arts Commission and California Humanities. This program is part of a project supported by California Humanities through an Humanities for All Quick Grant: Public Safety For Real.    ABOUT L.A. POVERTY DEPARTMENT   Founded by Artistic Director John Malpede in 1985, Los Angeles Poverty Department is made up of people who make art and live and work on Skid Row. LAPD creates performances and multidisciplinary artworks that connect the experience of people living in poverty to the social forces that shape their lives and communities. LAPD’s works express the realities, hopes, dreams and rights of people who live and work in L.A.’s Skid Row.   Walk the Talk celebrates a long process of community engagement that has included performances, exhibitions, public conversations, interviews – with the aim of enlisting community brain power to identify initiatives and people whose actions who have helped weave the social fabric of Skid Row. Walk the Talk is a peoples’ history of the community. LAPD tells the parts of the story that you won’t hear elsewhere: the story of the community as told by the community. Walk the Talk supports LAPD’s larger social practice methodology, a body of acclaimed work widely acknowledged as “some of the most uncompromising political theater.” (Artforum).