Dca Cultural Center Event

Celebrating the Icon, Legends and Trailblazer of West Adams’ Black History

Saturday, June 14, 10:00-11:30 a.m., at Village Green Club House

In February 2024, FORT: LA Fellowship recipient Madelene Dailey completed a research project and 7 short films about the neighborhood’s historic and unique architecture and led by narratives and reflections of the residents themselves.

Join us to learn about the founding of the Wilfandel Club by Della Williams and Fannie Williams, Alan and Vera Clarke Ifill’s founding of the Caribbean Credit Union, Yvonne Miller who was one of the founders of the First Negro Classical Ballet, and Paul R. Williams, the iconic architect who designed the legendary FAME Church.

The panelists will address the future of the neighborhood and the efforts underway for its preservation.

After the lecture, participants will be invited to continue the conversation while touring the stunningly verdant grounds of Village Green Clubhouse.

RSVP for FREE, HERE!

About the Panelists

• Madelene Daily is an Urban Planner from Florida, working primarily with the state of Florida on projects related to community infrastructure planning, public transportation, and federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulation. Her professional experience includes assisting local and national non-profit organizations, as well as state and federal agencies, in grant writing/funding, daily operations, volunteer outreach, community design workshops, and public support campaigns. Madelene also volunteers her time on pro bono and community enrichment development, and has worked with local non-profit organizations in Los Angeles on justice-driven civil design projects. She serves as a Director of Architecture + Advocacy, a USC student-founded startup working to address spatial justice through design and architecture. She is co-president of the USC National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMAS) Chapter and is a USC Architectural Guild Board member. She received her Bachelor’s in Environmental Studies and Visual Arts from Eckerd College in 2018. She will graduate from the University of Southern California with a Master’s in Architecture in the spring of 2024. During her studies her work will focus on intersecting equitable urban planning with sustainable design, she aims to earn a certificate in sustainable architecture as well.
• Joshua A. Foster is an award-winning community builder, architectural designer, educator, and speaker. He is the Founder and CEO of JAF — a community-impact focused consulting firm empowering the AEC and real estate industry with the tools to maximize impact in the built environment. Joshua also serves on multiple local and national non-profit boards including, the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA), the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA), the Long Beach Community Design Center, Architecture + Advocacy, and the USC Architectural Guild. Joshua is a graduate of both Columbia University and the University of Southern California.

About the Organizers 

Village Green (aka Baldwin Hills Village) is one of the most important housing design precedents in the nation and is the best example of the garden apartment typology on the West Coast. The project organizes 627 one-, two- and three-bedroom units in 92 one- and two-story buildings across a 67.7-acre site. The site is bounded, but not penetrated, by public streets, allowing for the creation of an approximately 13-acre, nearly half-mile long central green spine, called the Village Green.

Friends Of Residential Treasures: LA is an award-winning nonprofit dedicated to bringing people together by celebrating the history and influence of residential architecture. Our organization has developed four interlocking programs in pursuit of our mission: An online mapping system for self-guided tours of the exteriors of architecturally significant  homes developed by experts in the field (FORT Trails); a fellowship to foster new knowledge (FORT Fellowship); a series of virtual experiences to provide interior access  understanding (FORT Frames); and an ongoing series of live and virtual educational events (FORT Gatherings). We have been covered by the LA Times, KCRW, KCAL, NBC: LA, Spectrum News, NPR, Los Angeles Magazine, Time Out Los Angeles, American Way, and other outlets. We have partnered on live events with the Los Angeles Public LIbrary, the Hollyhock House, the Gamble House, Pasadena Heritage, the Pasadena Museum of History, soho.home.studeio, the Wolford House and more. Our organization is the recipient of an LA Conservancy Preservation award and a California Preservation Foundation Design award. FORT’s newsletter announcing its free monthly content reaches over 9,000 subscribers.

The EMPOWERMENT project returns for its second year. Honoring women artists and activists who have impacted and redefined the human experience, EMPOWERMENT is a festival-style weekend of performances, social action, creative workshops, and documentary screenings. In 2024, EMPOWERMENT will honor the work of two National Medal of the Arts winners: Maxine Hong Kingston, a American born Chinese writer and educator and Bella Lewitzky, an American choreographer and life long advocate for artistic freedom in dance. 

The EMPOWERMENT: Maxine + Bella celebration will include three days of arts activities at DCA’s Lankershim Arts Center, located in the heart of the NoHo Arts District at: 5108 Lankershim Boulevard, North Hollywood, CA 91601. All festival events are free and open to the public, but due to limited space, reservations are highly recommended via Brown Paper Tickets. For more information, please call: 213.270.8200.

An embodiment of DCA|PERF’s commitment to investing in hyperlocal creative communities and individual artists, the City has commissioned Bernard Brown, Mona Jean Cedar, Chris Emile, Caitlin Javech, Ibuki Kuramochi, Genna Moroni, Siwaraya Rochanahusdin, and Tracy Silver to perform dance and spoke word works that illuminate and reference the impact of Kingston and Lewitzky. Funded through DCA’s Lankershim Program Fund (LPF), the artists will ignite the stage with electrifying performances.

The weekend line-up is as follows: 

Friday, April 26, 2024

Performance at 8:00pm — Register here.

A celebration of Maxine Hong Kingston and Bella Lewitzky in spoken word and dance pieces by: Bernard Brown, Mona Jean Cedar, Chris Emile, Caitlin Javech, Ibuki Kauramochi, Genna Moroni, Siwaraya Rochanahusdin, and Tracy Silver.

Saturday, April 27, 2024

Youth Writing Class with Maxine Hong Kingston — 10:30am -11:30am — Register

Adult Writing Class with Maxine Hong Kingston — 12:00pm – 1:30pm — Register

Screening & Discussion — 2:00pm – 5:00pm — Register

A film screening of “Maxine Hong Kingston: Talking Story,” followed by a conversation with Maxine Hong Kingston about Asian American artists and the legacy of female storytelling in literature. 

Performance at 8:00pm — Register

A celebration of Maxine Hong Kingston and Bella Lewitzky in spoken word and dance pieces by: Bernard Brown, Mona Jean Cedar, Chris Emile, Caitlin Javech, Ibuki Kauramochi, Genna Moroni, Siwaraya Rochanahusdin, and Tracy Silver.

Sunday, April 28, 2024

Bella-Inspired Parent + Me Dance Class — 10:30am-11:30am — Register

Taught by LMU Professor Kristen Smiarowski for walking toddlers through age 4 year old children with caregivers. Siblings and pre-walkers can join, as long as each child has an adult. Make it a family affair! 

Intermediate/Adv. Lewitzky Dance Class — 12:00pm-1:30pm — Register

Taught by Walter Kennedy, who was a principal dancer with Lewitzky Dance

Company for nearly twenty years and served the company’s rehearsal director from

1990 until the company’s farewell performance in 1997. Accompanied percussionist T.J. Troy, this class is for the intermediate/professional trained dancer.

Screening & Discussion — 2:00pm-5:00pm — Register

A film screening of “Bella” followed by a conversation with the film’s Director, Bridget Murnane and Choreographer Lula Washington, moderated by Emily Wanserski.

Performance at 6:00pm — Register

A celebration of Maxine Hong Kingston and Bella Lewitzky in spoken word and dance pieces by: Bernard Brown, Mona Jean Cedar, Chris Emile, Caitlin Javech, Ibuki Kauramochi, Genna Moroni, Siwaraya Rochanahusdin, and Tracy Silver.

All artists, moderators and speakers are subject to change without notice.

ABOUT BELLA LEWITZKY

(January 13, 1916 – July 16, 2004) — Born to Russian immigrants, Bella Lewitzky’s journey through the world of dance began amidst the unique backdrop of a utopian socialist colony in the Mojave Desert and a ranch in San Bernardino. After moving to Los Angeles during her teenage years, she immersed herself in professional dance training. In 1934, Lewitzky joined Lester Horton’s modern dance company, became his lead dancer, and contributed significantly to the development of the renowned Horton Technique. It was during this period that she crossed paths with Architect/Set Designer Newell Taylor Reynolds, whom she married in 1940. In 1946, Lewitzky, in collaboration with Horton, founded the Dance Theater of Los Angeles—a groundbreaking institution housing both a dance school and theater on Melrose Blvd. In 1966, Lewitzky formed her own dance company, which existed for over 30 years in Los Angeles, CA and cemented her legacy as a maverick in modern dance. 

Bella Lewitzky chaired the contemporary dance department at Idyllwild Arts Academy, was founding dean of the California Institute of the Arts’s School of Dance, and was a dedicated political activist throughout her life. Her courageous stance in two high-profile encounters with the federal government underscored her commitment to principle, even at the risk of professional ostracism. Recognized with numerous awards and honorary doctorates, Lewitzky’s influence extends far beyond the stage, leaving an indelible mark on the realms of performance, education, and activism. 

ABOUT MAXINE HONG KINGSTON 

Maxine Hong Kingston is a Chinese American novelist, poet, and writer who received the National Medal of Arts in Kingston received the National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama in 2014. The eldest of six American-born children of Chinese immigrant parents, Hong attended the University of California, Berkeley, as a scholarship student, graduating in 1962. At Berkeley she met aspiring actor Earll Kingston, whom she married in 1962, then moved to Hawaii, where she held a series of teaching jobs for the next 10 years.

In 1976 Kingston published her first book, The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts. It combines myth, family history, folktales, and memories of the experience of growing up within two conflicting cultures. The book was an immediate critical success, winning the 1976 National Book Critics’ Circle Award for nonfiction. In her second memoir, China Men (1980), Kingston tells the story of Chinese immigration through the experiences of the men in her family. Using the narrative techniques of The Woman Warrior, she relates their stories of virtual slave labor, loneliness, and discrimination. In Tripmaster Monkey: His Fake Book (1989), the main character—Whittman Ah Sing, named after Walt Whitman—narrates a peculiarly 20th-century American odyssey; the book combines Eastern and Western literary traditions while emphasizing the Americanness of its characters. In To Be the Poet (2002), written mainly in verse, Kingston presented a rumination on elements of her own past and the acts of reading and creating poetry. The Fifth Book of Peace (2003) combines elements of fiction and memoir in the manner of a Chinese talk-story, a tradition in which elements of both the real and imagined worlds become interpolated. I Love a Broad Margin to My Life (2011) is a “memoir-in-verse.”

Hong is a Professor Emerita at the University of California, Berkeley, and she has received several awards for her contributions to Chinese American literature, including the National Book Award for Nonfiction in 1981 for China Men.

Celebrating the Icon, Legends and Trailblazer of West Adams’ Black History

Saturday, June 14, 10:00-11:30 a.m., at Village Green Club House

In February 2024, FORT: LA Fellowship recipient Madelene Dailey completed a research project and 7 short films about the neighborhood’s historic and unique architecture and led by narratives and reflections of the residents themselves.

Join us to learn about the founding of the Wilfandel Club by Della Williams and Fannie Williams, Alan and Vera Clarke Ifill’s founding of the Caribbean Credit Union, Yvonne Miller who was one of the founders of the First Negro Classical Ballet, and Paul R. Williams, the iconic architect who designed the legendary FAME Church.

The panelists will address the future of the neighborhood and the efforts underway for its preservation.

After the lecture, participants will be invited to continue the conversation while touring the stunningly verdant grounds of Village Green Clubhouse.

RSVP for FREE, HERE!

About the Panelists

• Madelene Daily is an Urban Planner from Florida, working primarily with the state of Florida on projects related to community infrastructure planning, public transportation, and federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulation. Her professional experience includes assisting local and national non-profit organizations, as well as state and federal agencies, in grant writing/funding, daily operations, volunteer outreach, community design workshops, and public support campaigns. Madelene also volunteers her time on pro bono and community enrichment development, and has worked with local non-profit organizations in Los Angeles on justice-driven civil design projects. She serves as a Director of Architecture + Advocacy, a USC student-founded startup working to address spatial justice through design and architecture. She is co-president of the USC National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMAS) Chapter and is a USC Architectural Guild Board member. She received her Bachelor’s in Environmental Studies and Visual Arts from Eckerd College in 2018. She will graduate from the University of Southern California with a Master’s in Architecture in the spring of 2024. During her studies her work will focus on intersecting equitable urban planning with sustainable design, she aims to earn a certificate in sustainable architecture as well.
• Joshua A. Foster is an award-winning community builder, architectural designer, educator, and speaker. He is the Founder and CEO of JAF — a community-impact focused consulting firm empowering the AEC and real estate industry with the tools to maximize impact in the built environment. Joshua also serves on multiple local and national non-profit boards including, the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA), the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA), the Long Beach Community Design Center, Architecture + Advocacy, and the USC Architectural Guild. Joshua is a graduate of both Columbia University and the University of Southern California.

About the Organizers 

Village Green (aka Baldwin Hills Village) is one of the most important housing design precedents in the nation and is the best example of the garden apartment typology on the West Coast. The project organizes 627 one-, two- and three-bedroom units in 92 one- and two-story buildings across a 67.7-acre site. The site is bounded, but not penetrated, by public streets, allowing for the creation of an approximately 13-acre, nearly half-mile long central green spine, called the Village Green.

Friends Of Residential Treasures: LA is an award-winning nonprofit dedicated to bringing people together by celebrating the history and influence of residential architecture. Our organization has developed four interlocking programs in pursuit of our mission: An online mapping system for self-guided tours of the exteriors of architecturally significant  homes developed by experts in the field (FORT Trails); a fellowship to foster new knowledge (FORT Fellowship); a series of virtual experiences to provide interior access  understanding (FORT Frames); and an ongoing series of live and virtual educational events (FORT Gatherings). We have been covered by the LA Times, KCRW, KCAL, NBC: LA, Spectrum News, NPR, Los Angeles Magazine, Time Out Los Angeles, American Way, and other outlets. We have partnered on live events with the Los Angeles Public LIbrary, the Hollyhock House, the Gamble House, Pasadena Heritage, the Pasadena Museum of History, soho.home.studeio, the Wolford House and more. Our organization is the recipient of an LA Conservancy Preservation award and a California Preservation Foundation Design award. FORT’s newsletter announcing its free monthly content reaches over 9,000 subscribers.

The EMPOWERMENT project returns for its second year. Honoring women artists and activists who have impacted and redefined the human experience, EMPOWERMENT is a festival-style weekend of performances, social action, creative workshops, and documentary screenings. In 2024, EMPOWERMENT will honor the work of two National Medal of the Arts winners: Maxine Hong Kingston, a American born Chinese writer and educator and Bella Lewitzky, an American choreographer and life long advocate for artistic freedom in dance. 

The EMPOWERMENT: Maxine + Bella celebration will include three days of arts activities at DCA’s Lankershim Arts Center, located in the heart of the NoHo Arts District at: 5108 Lankershim Boulevard, North Hollywood, CA 91601. All festival events are free and open to the public, but due to limited space, reservations are highly recommended via Brown Paper Tickets. For more information, please call: 213.270.8200.

An embodiment of DCA|PERF’s commitment to investing in hyperlocal creative communities and individual artists, the City has commissioned Bernard Brown, Mona Jean Cedar, Chris Emile, Caitlin Javech, Ibuki Kuramochi, Genna Moroni, Siwaraya Rochanahusdin, and Tracy Silver to perform dance and spoke word works that illuminate and reference the impact of Kingston and Lewitzky. Funded through DCA’s Lankershim Program Fund (LPF), the artists will ignite the stage with electrifying performances.

The weekend line-up is as follows: 

Friday, April 26, 2024

Performance at 8:00pm — Register here.

A celebration of Maxine Hong Kingston and Bella Lewitzky in spoken word and dance pieces by: Bernard Brown, Mona Jean Cedar, Chris Emile, Caitlin Javech, Ibuki Kauramochi, Genna Moroni, Siwaraya Rochanahusdin, and Tracy Silver.

Saturday, April 27, 2024

Youth Writing Class with Maxine Hong Kingston — 10:30am -11:30am — Register

Adult Writing Class with Maxine Hong Kingston — 12:00pm – 1:30pm — Register

Screening & Discussion — 2:00pm – 5:00pm — Register

A film screening of “Maxine Hong Kingston: Talking Story,” followed by a conversation with Maxine Hong Kingston about Asian American artists and the legacy of female storytelling in literature. 

Performance at 8:00pm — Register

A celebration of Maxine Hong Kingston and Bella Lewitzky in spoken word and dance pieces by: Bernard Brown, Mona Jean Cedar, Chris Emile, Caitlin Javech, Ibuki Kauramochi, Genna Moroni, Siwaraya Rochanahusdin, and Tracy Silver.

Sunday, April 28, 2024

Bella-Inspired Parent + Me Dance Class — 10:30am-11:30am — Register

Taught by LMU Professor Kristen Smiarowski for walking toddlers through age 4 year old children with caregivers. Siblings and pre-walkers can join, as long as each child has an adult. Make it a family affair! 

Intermediate/Adv. Lewitzky Dance Class — 12:00pm-1:30pm — Register

Taught by Walter Kennedy, who was a principal dancer with Lewitzky Dance

Company for nearly twenty years and served the company’s rehearsal director from

1990 until the company’s farewell performance in 1997. Accompanied percussionist T.J. Troy, this class is for the intermediate/professional trained dancer.

Screening & Discussion — 2:00pm-5:00pm — Register

A film screening of “Bella” followed by a conversation with the film’s Director, Bridget Murnane and Choreographer Lula Washington, moderated by Emily Wanserski.

Performance at 6:00pm — Register

A celebration of Maxine Hong Kingston and Bella Lewitzky in spoken word and dance pieces by: Bernard Brown, Mona Jean Cedar, Chris Emile, Caitlin Javech, Ibuki Kauramochi, Genna Moroni, Siwaraya Rochanahusdin, and Tracy Silver.

All artists, moderators and speakers are subject to change without notice.

ABOUT BELLA LEWITZKY

(January 13, 1916 – July 16, 2004) — Born to Russian immigrants, Bella Lewitzky’s journey through the world of dance began amidst the unique backdrop of a utopian socialist colony in the Mojave Desert and a ranch in San Bernardino. After moving to Los Angeles during her teenage years, she immersed herself in professional dance training. In 1934, Lewitzky joined Lester Horton’s modern dance company, became his lead dancer, and contributed significantly to the development of the renowned Horton Technique. It was during this period that she crossed paths with Architect/Set Designer Newell Taylor Reynolds, whom she married in 1940. In 1946, Lewitzky, in collaboration with Horton, founded the Dance Theater of Los Angeles—a groundbreaking institution housing both a dance school and theater on Melrose Blvd. In 1966, Lewitzky formed her own dance company, which existed for over 30 years in Los Angeles, CA and cemented her legacy as a maverick in modern dance. 

Bella Lewitzky chaired the contemporary dance department at Idyllwild Arts Academy, was founding dean of the California Institute of the Arts’s School of Dance, and was a dedicated political activist throughout her life. Her courageous stance in two high-profile encounters with the federal government underscored her commitment to principle, even at the risk of professional ostracism. Recognized with numerous awards and honorary doctorates, Lewitzky’s influence extends far beyond the stage, leaving an indelible mark on the realms of performance, education, and activism. 

ABOUT MAXINE HONG KINGSTON 

Maxine Hong Kingston is a Chinese American novelist, poet, and writer who received the National Medal of Arts in Kingston received the National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama in 2014. The eldest of six American-born children of Chinese immigrant parents, Hong attended the University of California, Berkeley, as a scholarship student, graduating in 1962. At Berkeley she met aspiring actor Earll Kingston, whom she married in 1962, then moved to Hawaii, where she held a series of teaching jobs for the next 10 years.

In 1976 Kingston published her first book, The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts. It combines myth, family history, folktales, and memories of the experience of growing up within two conflicting cultures. The book was an immediate critical success, winning the 1976 National Book Critics’ Circle Award for nonfiction. In her second memoir, China Men (1980), Kingston tells the story of Chinese immigration through the experiences of the men in her family. Using the narrative techniques of The Woman Warrior, she relates their stories of virtual slave labor, loneliness, and discrimination. In Tripmaster Monkey: His Fake Book (1989), the main character—Whittman Ah Sing, named after Walt Whitman—narrates a peculiarly 20th-century American odyssey; the book combines Eastern and Western literary traditions while emphasizing the Americanness of its characters. In To Be the Poet (2002), written mainly in verse, Kingston presented a rumination on elements of her own past and the acts of reading and creating poetry. The Fifth Book of Peace (2003) combines elements of fiction and memoir in the manner of a Chinese talk-story, a tradition in which elements of both the real and imagined worlds become interpolated. I Love a Broad Margin to My Life (2011) is a “memoir-in-verse.”

Hong is a Professor Emerita at the University of California, Berkeley, and she has received several awards for her contributions to Chinese American literature, including the National Book Award for Nonfiction in 1981 for China Men.

Celebrating the Icon, Legends and Trailblazer of West Adams’ Black History

Saturday, June 14, 10:00-11:30 a.m., at Village Green Club House

In February 2024, FORT: LA Fellowship recipient Madelene Dailey completed a research project and 7 short films about the neighborhood’s historic and unique architecture and led by narratives and reflections of the residents themselves.

Join us to learn about the founding of the Wilfandel Club by Della Williams and Fannie Williams, Alan and Vera Clarke Ifill’s founding of the Caribbean Credit Union, Yvonne Miller who was one of the founders of the First Negro Classical Ballet, and Paul R. Williams, the iconic architect who designed the legendary FAME Church.

The panelists will address the future of the neighborhood and the efforts underway for its preservation.

After the lecture, participants will be invited to continue the conversation while touring the stunningly verdant grounds of Village Green Clubhouse.

RSVP for FREE, HERE!

About the Panelists

• Madelene Daily is an Urban Planner from Florida, working primarily with the state of Florida on projects related to community infrastructure planning, public transportation, and federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulation. Her professional experience includes assisting local and national non-profit organizations, as well as state and federal agencies, in grant writing/funding, daily operations, volunteer outreach, community design workshops, and public support campaigns. Madelene also volunteers her time on pro bono and community enrichment development, and has worked with local non-profit organizations in Los Angeles on justice-driven civil design projects. She serves as a Director of Architecture + Advocacy, a USC student-founded startup working to address spatial justice through design and architecture. She is co-president of the USC National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMAS) Chapter and is a USC Architectural Guild Board member. She received her Bachelor’s in Environmental Studies and Visual Arts from Eckerd College in 2018. She will graduate from the University of Southern California with a Master’s in Architecture in the spring of 2024. During her studies her work will focus on intersecting equitable urban planning with sustainable design, she aims to earn a certificate in sustainable architecture as well.
• Joshua A. Foster is an award-winning community builder, architectural designer, educator, and speaker. He is the Founder and CEO of JAF — a community-impact focused consulting firm empowering the AEC and real estate industry with the tools to maximize impact in the built environment. Joshua also serves on multiple local and national non-profit boards including, the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA), the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA), the Long Beach Community Design Center, Architecture + Advocacy, and the USC Architectural Guild. Joshua is a graduate of both Columbia University and the University of Southern California.

About the Organizers 

Village Green (aka Baldwin Hills Village) is one of the most important housing design precedents in the nation and is the best example of the garden apartment typology on the West Coast. The project organizes 627 one-, two- and three-bedroom units in 92 one- and two-story buildings across a 67.7-acre site. The site is bounded, but not penetrated, by public streets, allowing for the creation of an approximately 13-acre, nearly half-mile long central green spine, called the Village Green.

Friends Of Residential Treasures: LA is an award-winning nonprofit dedicated to bringing people together by celebrating the history and influence of residential architecture. Our organization has developed four interlocking programs in pursuit of our mission: An online mapping system for self-guided tours of the exteriors of architecturally significant  homes developed by experts in the field (FORT Trails); a fellowship to foster new knowledge (FORT Fellowship); a series of virtual experiences to provide interior access  understanding (FORT Frames); and an ongoing series of live and virtual educational events (FORT Gatherings). We have been covered by the LA Times, KCRW, KCAL, NBC: LA, Spectrum News, NPR, Los Angeles Magazine, Time Out Los Angeles, American Way, and other outlets. We have partnered on live events with the Los Angeles Public LIbrary, the Hollyhock House, the Gamble House, Pasadena Heritage, the Pasadena Museum of History, soho.home.studeio, the Wolford House and more. Our organization is the recipient of an LA Conservancy Preservation award and a California Preservation Foundation Design award. FORT’s newsletter announcing its free monthly content reaches over 9,000 subscribers.

The EMPOWERMENT project returns for its second year. Honoring women artists and activists who have impacted and redefined the human experience, EMPOWERMENT is a festival-style weekend of performances, social action, creative workshops, and documentary screenings. In 2024, EMPOWERMENT will honor the work of two National Medal of the Arts winners: Maxine Hong Kingston, a American born Chinese writer and educator and Bella Lewitzky, an American choreographer and life long advocate for artistic freedom in dance. 

The EMPOWERMENT: Maxine + Bella celebration will include three days of arts activities at DCA’s Lankershim Arts Center, located in the heart of the NoHo Arts District at: 5108 Lankershim Boulevard, North Hollywood, CA 91601. All festival events are free and open to the public, but due to limited space, reservations are highly recommended via Brown Paper Tickets. For more information, please call: 213.270.8200.

An embodiment of DCA|PERF’s commitment to investing in hyperlocal creative communities and individual artists, the City has commissioned Bernard Brown, Mona Jean Cedar, Chris Emile, Caitlin Javech, Ibuki Kuramochi, Genna Moroni, Siwaraya Rochanahusdin, and Tracy Silver to perform dance and spoke word works that illuminate and reference the impact of Kingston and Lewitzky. Funded through DCA’s Lankershim Program Fund (LPF), the artists will ignite the stage with electrifying performances.

The weekend line-up is as follows: 

Friday, April 26, 2024

Performance at 8:00pm — Register here.

A celebration of Maxine Hong Kingston and Bella Lewitzky in spoken word and dance pieces by: Bernard Brown, Mona Jean Cedar, Chris Emile, Caitlin Javech, Ibuki Kauramochi, Genna Moroni, Siwaraya Rochanahusdin, and Tracy Silver.

Saturday, April 27, 2024

Youth Writing Class with Maxine Hong Kingston — 10:30am -11:30am — Register

Adult Writing Class with Maxine Hong Kingston — 12:00pm – 1:30pm — Register

Screening & Discussion — 2:00pm – 5:00pm — Register

A film screening of “Maxine Hong Kingston: Talking Story,” followed by a conversation with Maxine Hong Kingston about Asian American artists and the legacy of female storytelling in literature. 

Performance at 8:00pm — Register

A celebration of Maxine Hong Kingston and Bella Lewitzky in spoken word and dance pieces by: Bernard Brown, Mona Jean Cedar, Chris Emile, Caitlin Javech, Ibuki Kauramochi, Genna Moroni, Siwaraya Rochanahusdin, and Tracy Silver.

Sunday, April 28, 2024

Bella-Inspired Parent + Me Dance Class — 10:30am-11:30am — Register

Taught by LMU Professor Kristen Smiarowski for walking toddlers through age 4 year old children with caregivers. Siblings and pre-walkers can join, as long as each child has an adult. Make it a family affair! 

Intermediate/Adv. Lewitzky Dance Class — 12:00pm-1:30pm — Register

Taught by Walter Kennedy, who was a principal dancer with Lewitzky Dance

Company for nearly twenty years and served the company’s rehearsal director from

1990 until the company’s farewell performance in 1997. Accompanied percussionist T.J. Troy, this class is for the intermediate/professional trained dancer.

Screening & Discussion — 2:00pm-5:00pm — Register

A film screening of “Bella” followed by a conversation with the film’s Director, Bridget Murnane and Choreographer Lula Washington, moderated by Emily Wanserski.

Performance at 6:00pm — Register

A celebration of Maxine Hong Kingston and Bella Lewitzky in spoken word and dance pieces by: Bernard Brown, Mona Jean Cedar, Chris Emile, Caitlin Javech, Ibuki Kauramochi, Genna Moroni, Siwaraya Rochanahusdin, and Tracy Silver.

All artists, moderators and speakers are subject to change without notice.

ABOUT BELLA LEWITZKY

(January 13, 1916 – July 16, 2004) — Born to Russian immigrants, Bella Lewitzky’s journey through the world of dance began amidst the unique backdrop of a utopian socialist colony in the Mojave Desert and a ranch in San Bernardino. After moving to Los Angeles during her teenage years, she immersed herself in professional dance training. In 1934, Lewitzky joined Lester Horton’s modern dance company, became his lead dancer, and contributed significantly to the development of the renowned Horton Technique. It was during this period that she crossed paths with Architect/Set Designer Newell Taylor Reynolds, whom she married in 1940. In 1946, Lewitzky, in collaboration with Horton, founded the Dance Theater of Los Angeles—a groundbreaking institution housing both a dance school and theater on Melrose Blvd. In 1966, Lewitzky formed her own dance company, which existed for over 30 years in Los Angeles, CA and cemented her legacy as a maverick in modern dance. 

Bella Lewitzky chaired the contemporary dance department at Idyllwild Arts Academy, was founding dean of the California Institute of the Arts’s School of Dance, and was a dedicated political activist throughout her life. Her courageous stance in two high-profile encounters with the federal government underscored her commitment to principle, even at the risk of professional ostracism. Recognized with numerous awards and honorary doctorates, Lewitzky’s influence extends far beyond the stage, leaving an indelible mark on the realms of performance, education, and activism. 

ABOUT MAXINE HONG KINGSTON 

Maxine Hong Kingston is a Chinese American novelist, poet, and writer who received the National Medal of Arts in Kingston received the National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama in 2014. The eldest of six American-born children of Chinese immigrant parents, Hong attended the University of California, Berkeley, as a scholarship student, graduating in 1962. At Berkeley she met aspiring actor Earll Kingston, whom she married in 1962, then moved to Hawaii, where she held a series of teaching jobs for the next 10 years.

In 1976 Kingston published her first book, The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts. It combines myth, family history, folktales, and memories of the experience of growing up within two conflicting cultures. The book was an immediate critical success, winning the 1976 National Book Critics’ Circle Award for nonfiction. In her second memoir, China Men (1980), Kingston tells the story of Chinese immigration through the experiences of the men in her family. Using the narrative techniques of The Woman Warrior, she relates their stories of virtual slave labor, loneliness, and discrimination. In Tripmaster Monkey: His Fake Book (1989), the main character—Whittman Ah Sing, named after Walt Whitman—narrates a peculiarly 20th-century American odyssey; the book combines Eastern and Western literary traditions while emphasizing the Americanness of its characters. In To Be the Poet (2002), written mainly in verse, Kingston presented a rumination on elements of her own past and the acts of reading and creating poetry. The Fifth Book of Peace (2003) combines elements of fiction and memoir in the manner of a Chinese talk-story, a tradition in which elements of both the real and imagined worlds become interpolated. I Love a Broad Margin to My Life (2011) is a “memoir-in-verse.”

Hong is a Professor Emerita at the University of California, Berkeley, and she has received several awards for her contributions to Chinese American literature, including the National Book Award for Nonfiction in 1981 for China Men.

Celebrating the Icon, Legends and Trailblazer of West Adams’ Black History

Saturday, June 14, 10:00-11:30 a.m., at Village Green Club House

In February 2024, FORT: LA Fellowship recipient Madelene Dailey completed a research project and 7 short films about the neighborhood’s historic and unique architecture and led by narratives and reflections of the residents themselves.

Join us to learn about the founding of the Wilfandel Club by Della Williams and Fannie Williams, Alan and Vera Clarke Ifill’s founding of the Caribbean Credit Union, Yvonne Miller who was one of the founders of the First Negro Classical Ballet, and Paul R. Williams, the iconic architect who designed the legendary FAME Church.

The panelists will address the future of the neighborhood and the efforts underway for its preservation.

After the lecture, participants will be invited to continue the conversation while touring the stunningly verdant grounds of Village Green Clubhouse.

RSVP for FREE, HERE!

About the Panelists

• Madelene Daily is an Urban Planner from Florida, working primarily with the state of Florida on projects related to community infrastructure planning, public transportation, and federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulation. Her professional experience includes assisting local and national non-profit organizations, as well as state and federal agencies, in grant writing/funding, daily operations, volunteer outreach, community design workshops, and public support campaigns. Madelene also volunteers her time on pro bono and community enrichment development, and has worked with local non-profit organizations in Los Angeles on justice-driven civil design projects. She serves as a Director of Architecture + Advocacy, a USC student-founded startup working to address spatial justice through design and architecture. She is co-president of the USC National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMAS) Chapter and is a USC Architectural Guild Board member. She received her Bachelor’s in Environmental Studies and Visual Arts from Eckerd College in 2018. She will graduate from the University of Southern California with a Master’s in Architecture in the spring of 2024. During her studies her work will focus on intersecting equitable urban planning with sustainable design, she aims to earn a certificate in sustainable architecture as well.
• Joshua A. Foster is an award-winning community builder, architectural designer, educator, and speaker. He is the Founder and CEO of JAF — a community-impact focused consulting firm empowering the AEC and real estate industry with the tools to maximize impact in the built environment. Joshua also serves on multiple local and national non-profit boards including, the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA), the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA), the Long Beach Community Design Center, Architecture + Advocacy, and the USC Architectural Guild. Joshua is a graduate of both Columbia University and the University of Southern California.

About the Organizers 

Village Green (aka Baldwin Hills Village) is one of the most important housing design precedents in the nation and is the best example of the garden apartment typology on the West Coast. The project organizes 627 one-, two- and three-bedroom units in 92 one- and two-story buildings across a 67.7-acre site. The site is bounded, but not penetrated, by public streets, allowing for the creation of an approximately 13-acre, nearly half-mile long central green spine, called the Village Green.

Friends Of Residential Treasures: LA is an award-winning nonprofit dedicated to bringing people together by celebrating the history and influence of residential architecture. Our organization has developed four interlocking programs in pursuit of our mission: An online mapping system for self-guided tours of the exteriors of architecturally significant  homes developed by experts in the field (FORT Trails); a fellowship to foster new knowledge (FORT Fellowship); a series of virtual experiences to provide interior access  understanding (FORT Frames); and an ongoing series of live and virtual educational events (FORT Gatherings). We have been covered by the LA Times, KCRW, KCAL, NBC: LA, Spectrum News, NPR, Los Angeles Magazine, Time Out Los Angeles, American Way, and other outlets. We have partnered on live events with the Los Angeles Public LIbrary, the Hollyhock House, the Gamble House, Pasadena Heritage, the Pasadena Museum of History, soho.home.studeio, the Wolford House and more. Our organization is the recipient of an LA Conservancy Preservation award and a California Preservation Foundation Design award. FORT’s newsletter announcing its free monthly content reaches over 9,000 subscribers.

Angels Gate Cultural Center (AGCC), in partnership with artist group FLOOD, is pleased to present the 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗽𝗲𝗱𝗿𝗼𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟰 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗜𝗩𝗔𝗥𝗜 on-site event on Saturday, June 1st, 7pm – 10:00pm.

The one-night, free event features 50+ artist installations & performances including: sculptures, environments, installations, timed and ongoing performances, interactions, and presentations placed throughout the AGCC 7-acre campus.

**𝘝𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯, 𝘴𝘶𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴 (𝘦.𝘨. 𝘫𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘴, 𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘴, 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘴, 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘳, 𝘦𝘵𝘤.).

More information about 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗽𝗲𝗱𝗿𝗼𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟰 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗜𝗩𝗔𝗥𝗜 and full list of participating artists can be found at https://soundpedro.art/

Make sure to explore 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗯𝗮𝘆 in the AGCC gallery, which provides both glimpse and glitch into 20 years of sound art within the context of Long Beach SoundWalk and 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗽𝗲𝗱𝗿𝗼, produced by the artist group FLOOD. Through installations, videos, and performance, the show traces early SoundWalk events (which started in 2004) and bridge time, up to the current 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗽𝗲𝗱𝗿𝗼𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟰 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗜𝗩𝗔𝗥𝗜. Visit qr.link/fBptvm for more information about the exhibition.

𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗽𝗲𝗱𝗿𝗼 is an annual season of experimental sound art events, presented through November, that investigates the way we perceive and experience sound. 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗽𝗲𝗱𝗿𝗼𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟰 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗜𝗩𝗔𝗥𝗜 continues the quest towards an immersive, interactive and living experience, mingling human and non-human inputs, and explores broadening the auditory perception of sound as a meaningful phenomenon towards the physical reception of sound as experiential. 𝙨𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙥𝙚𝙙𝙧𝙤 𝙞𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙖 𝙢𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙘 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙩.

𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘓𝘰𝘴 𝘈𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘋𝘦𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘊𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘈𝘧𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘴, 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘰 𝘍𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘙𝘢𝘭𝘱𝘩 𝘔. 𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘍𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘊𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘢 𝘕𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘙𝘦𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘈𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘶𝘮 𝘎𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘮 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘢 𝘊𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘏𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘌𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵.

The exhibition brings together artists Michael Massenburg, Aiseborn, and Mr. B Baby to explore the intersections of family,
culture, and community. Curated by Guillermo Aviles-Rodriguez, PhD., the works will be on view Wednesday to Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., from April 13 to August 2024, with a reception/artist talk and performance by Nedra Wheeler Trio taking place Sunday, June 9 at 1:00 p.m. Admission is free.

Cover image: Helping Families Grow, by Michael Massenburg, Aiseborn, and Mr. B Baby located at Kaiser Permanente Watts Counseling and Learning Center

Experience the interior of Hollyhock House at your own pace with a self-guided tour. Docents are on hand to provide information and answer questions. Guidebooks are also available for visitors to use in the house.

Tickets on sale now through January. Tickets for February will be released in December. If it says NO EVENTS on the purchasing calendar that indicates tours are sold out for that date or Hollyhock House is closed. Questions? Email hollyhockhouse@lacity.org.