LA County Arts Commission "Cultivate/Create" Initiative

I've been apart of Highways Performance Space for the past seven years. Throughout all the administration, curation, developing and presenting I have been apart of, I've found the space, after 22 years, to still be a vital part of the creative ecology of not only Los Angeles but far, far beyond. It's a kind of miracle that a place that has helped facilitate the dialogues of thousands of artists and their communities with no compromise still exists and maintains its relevance in our current day in age.

Recently, the L.A. County Arts Commission has provided Highways with a matching grant of $10,000 to initiate a new commissioning program. It’s all or nothing. If we don’t raise the $10,000, we don’t get the grant. To reach our goal, we’re seeking an additional boost from our current supporters and a commitment from those who’ve thought about but have never managed to donate in the past. If you’ve never pledged before, anything from $10 to $10,000 will help us reach our goal. If you HAVE, then think about giving $50 instead of $25.

That additional $25 dollars a year will go directly towards an ambitious new commissioning program. For its pilot phase, I'm bringing together a collective of artists from a range of disciplines and communities in order to undertake a project that investigates the nature of collaboration and the range of new tools and techniques in performance – both in a sense of artistic aesthetic and community.

This project, entitled PATTY, is an "outer-disciplinary" Pop! musical event.  Utilizing a cast of performers who identify as “Woman," it questions what “Woman” represents in a modern culture where one’s sense of self has become split across a multitude of both physical and virtual spatial platforms, most of which are mediated by the Male gaze. Where is the literal site of female/feminine identity within the psychological trauma of memory, celebrity, and politics across these landscapes? 

The material will be principally derived from the real lives and fictional myths of historical and pop-cultural iconoclasts Patty Duke and Patty Hearst. Their stories, particularly within the context of the social upheavals of the 1960s/70s, reflect a tension-filled realm that encapsulates the gulf between a Woman’s projected identity and her private, “real” identity.

This project will bring together a bounty of innovative artists from the worlds of music, video art, dance, theater, and fashion in Los Angeles in the creation of a work the likes of which you've never seen before.

Here's a profile of the project on the Los Angeles Art Commission's website.

As of today, we're about 60% to our goal. You can push us further via a tax-deductible donation you will have my undying love and support till the end of time! (plus more benefits you can check out HERE!).