Sunday, July 19, 2026 at 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM
18th Street Arts Center, Santa Monica
**Citizen Artist Reading Group** **Sunday, July 19th | 10 AM - 12 PM** **Virtual - **Meeting Link**** **Free + Open to the Public** *High Performance* magazine, and later *The Citizen Artist* anthology, documented and amplified the voices of artists working outside traditional institutions, embedding their practice in the fabric of civic life. By revisiting these groundbreaking publications, we aim to spark dialogue, collective memory, and action—drawing from a powerful lineage of artist-led civic engagement and radical experimentation. The *Citizen Artist Reading Group* is a year-long inquiry into the intersections of art, politics, performance, and community. Meeting monthly from January–December 2026, the group will engage foundational and experimental texts that have shaped the fields of social practice, community-based performance, and art/life. Together, participants will explore themes ranging from feminist lineages and environmental interventions to activism, justice, and collective transformation. All sessions are virtual and public. Special guests will be invited to each session. **Session 7 – July 19, 2026** Readings: [The Artist as Citizen – Linda Frye Burnham ](https://wayback.archive-it.org/2077/20100906194833/http://www.communityarts.net/readingroom/archivefiles/2002/09/artist_as_citiz_1.php)(p. 179) Town Artist: An Interview with David Harding – Moira Roth (p. 185) LAPD, Skid Row and the Real Deal: A Conversation – John Malpede & Elia Arce (p. 195) **Guests: John Malpede** John Malpede, directs, performs and engineers multi-event arts projects that have theatrical, installation, public art and education components. In 1985, Malpede founded and continues to direct the Los Angeles Poverty Department (LAPD), the first performance group in the nation comprised primarily of homeless and formerly homeless people. LAPD 's mission is to create performances that connect lived experience to the social forces that shape the lives and communities of people living in poverty. Malpede has produced projects working with communities throughout the US and in the UK, France,The Netherlands, Belgium and Bolivia. In 2004 Malpede’s project “RFK in EKY”, was produced by Appalshop, and developed with a host of community partners. This monumental, real-time documentary-style performance by a large community cast , sought to put an historical mirror up to present moment life in eastern Kentucky. RFK in EKY recreated Kennedy’s original “war on poverty” tour in the course of a four-day, 200 mile series of events that included, performance, installations, and in-depth discussion of historic and current events and social policy. He involved a number of his closest artist / collaborators in elements of this project including, David Michalek, Harrell Fletcher, Henriette Brouwers and Sjoerd Wagenaar. Malpede has received New York’s Dance Theater Workshop Bessie Creation Award, San Francisco Art Institute's Adeline Kent Award, Durfee Sabbatical Grant, LA Theater Alliance Ovation Award, Individual artist fellowships from New York State Council on the Arts, NEA, California Arts Council, City of Los Angeles' COLA fellowship, California Community Foundation's Visual Artist Fellowship, 2007-9 fellow at MIT's Center for Advanced Visual Studies, Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, and numerous project grants and awards. https://www.johnmalpede.info/introduction https://www.lapovertydept.org