Took a first step into the world of the Mid-City community when Mark Seldis of Ghost Road and I attended a meeting of the Mid-City Recovery Redevelopment Project Area Committee at the 10th Council District field office on Western. Sun Chips, Doritos and cookies were generously provided for the forty-some people on attendance. Mark and I introduced ourselves during the “community participation” portion of the evening and gave a quick overview of our plans for an arts complex / performance lab. We invited people to talk to us afterwards if they wanted to hear more. We met several nice people with some leads on spaces and particular locations to explore. I was impressed by the committee’s dedication to monitoring the CRA’s activities and ensuring the betterment of their neighborhoods. As it turns out, people (even government employees) really do care about the best interests of the city and te people who live there.
Hello. We are back. Slowly surfacing from a long period of change in the company. Some of us traveled and moved to other states, and took up residence and became vessels of change in new cities. Some of us went to grad school… Some of us got married… Some had babies… And most of us spent the past few years pondering- staring at the artistic climate of our world… Our country… And our city. And in this pondering we were able to take stock and realize that the world is a different place now- much different from when we began our journey as novice artists. Money for the arts, for underground voices, and impossible possibilities has been tempered. Yes. The landscape has changed… We are ready to change with it. In the next few months, and coming years, Trade City will be re-surfacing in a little pocket of community in Los Angeles, the Mid-City- aptly named for where our journey finds us- in the middle of some place… We never ascribed to an easy definition for our company, but rather hoped to live in the middle of all artistic thought, and with that said Trade City will be chronicling our resurfacing on this blog. My posts will keep you updated on the happenings of Trade City and the happenings of like-minded groups. What else might you find here? In the tradition of Trade City, we will have a column devoted to a young artist, this artist has just found himself in Los Angeles after graduating from college with a theatre design degree. He is just learning the ropes of this city, and he is going to take us along for the ride. As he learns what it means to live as an artist in this city we hope to give our audience a first hand look at the world through the eyes of someone who is still learning. Maybe in this way we can harken back to our roots, as an organization that has no preconceptions- that is without rules and boundaries. His posts will be listed under the heading, “Outside/In”… And with that Trade City begins again. We hope to carry you all along for the journey. If you did not know us before check out our history page, and if you did know us before- we hope that you will come back and join us on our new journey forward.
