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Culminating Event of:
The Watts Towers Common Ground Initiative: Art, Migrations, Development
www.WattsTowersCommonGround.org<
http://www.wattstowerscommonground.org/>
"Communal Tables: Practicing Hospitality & Sustainability"
http://www.wattstowerscommonground.org/festival_food.html
March 18 - 20, 2011
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ST. JOSEPH'S TABLE: A SICILIAN FOOD ALTAR TRADITION: Viewing of altar: Friday, March 18, 3:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.; Saturday, March 19, 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.; Sunday, March 20, 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., St. Lawrence of Brindisi Church, 10122 Compton Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90002 (Church founded in 1908, Capuchin Franciscan since 1922) * Based on Sicilian tradition, St. Joseph's Tables are meant to feed the poor, to practice hospitality, and to welcome the stranger. A table is laid out. All are welcome. These tables both commemorate a time when diaspora Italians represented a community in need, and, as a springtime recurrence, they also celebrate abundance. A critical part of 'giving a table" is to engage in the 'ritual begging" of food, collecting what is needed from friends, family, and community, in order to re-distribute it to those who most need it. * Pageant of "The Saints" & Blessing of the Table: Friday, Mar. 18, 6:30 - 6:45 p.m. Similar to the Las Posadas in Mexican Christmas tradition, three parishioners representing Mary, Joseph, and Joseph ("the Saints" or "I Santi"), seeking shelter and hospitality at the Inn, knock on two doors, are turned away twice, then knock at the third door and are welcomed into the Church and offered hospitality at the St. Joseph's Altar. [Food altar offered by the Italian community of Los Angeles and created with the assistance of artists from the Watts Towers Arts Center, Mudtown Farms, and others.]
Saturday, March 19
MudTown Farms Communal Table Tour: 9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. * Please join us for a morning of family fun at MudTown Farms. Participate in tour, storytelling, food and design project stations. RSVP to Watts Labor Community Action Committee at (323) 563.5639.
[MudTown Farms project: MudTown Farms is a 2.48 acre community sustainable farm project located in Watts, California. The MudTown Farms model integrates bio-diverse farming, nutrition education, physical fitness and other community benefit programming to maximize local participation in eco-conscious practices that promote community wellness and access to safe and secure food.]
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St. Joseph, San Giuseppe, San José [Illustrated Lectures]: 1:00 - 3:00 p.m. (Patron Feast Day of St. Joseph and Italian "Father's Day"), St. Lawrence of Brindisi Church, Parish Hall, 10122 Compton Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90002
The Cult of St. Joseph in Mexico and the Hispanic World, by Charlene Villaseñor-Black, Assoc. Professor UCLA Art History and Chicana/o Studies * This illustrated lecture will look at the imagery of St. Joseph, named patron of Mexico and the conversion to Christianity in 1555 and patron of Spain in 1672. How did artists create imagery for this newly important saint's cult? How was such imagery used during the conquest and conversion of Mexico? What is the relationship between St. Joseph and Mexico's better-known patroness, the Virgin of Guadalupe?
Rituals of Charity and Abundance: The Sicilian St. Joseph's Day Table in Los Angeles, A Feast for Our Times, by Luisa Del Giudice, Project Coordinator, Watts Towers Common Ground Initiative * This lecture explores the various meanings of the mid-Lenten St. Joseph's Table tradition in Sicily, Los Angeles (and New Orleans), and the place of food altars and communal tables within the Watts Towers Common Ground Initiative. How does this tradition address issues of food justice, symbolically celebrate abundance, as well as dramatize the migration narrative itself (through the Holy Family's Flight into Egypt pageant). How is the St. Joseph's Table tradition indeed, a `feast for our times,' going beyond the prism of a specific ethnic community? How does this work of bridging academic discourse and social engagement embrace an 'ethnography of compassion?'
Sunday, March 20
A Communal Table: Sunday March 20, 12:00 p.m. - 2 p.m. * Shared Meal of Pasta e Fagioli - Italian Bean Soup, Offered to parishioners of St. Lawrence of Brindisi Church * Made possible by chefs Evan Kleiman (Host, KCRW "Good Food")* and Celestino Drago, with Sam Perricone Citrus Co., Food Forward, and your donations (see below)! Served by volunteers from across Los Angeles, including the Consul General of Italy in Los Angeles, Nicola Faganello.
*
While in Watts, Please Visit:
Watts Towers & Watts Towers Arts Center, 1727 East 107th St., Los Angeles, 90002 * Hours, Admission, Guided Tours & more:
www.wattstowers.org<
http://www.wattstowers.org>
Exhibition: Migrating Towers: I Gigli di Nola and Beyond<
http://www.wattstowerscommonground.org/festival_exhib.html>, Charles Mingus Youth Arts Center [Closes April 30; Re-opens in New York: John D. Calandra Italian American Insitute, Queens College, CUNY, June 22 - August 19, 2011]
Exhibition: Dominique Moody: Narrative Odyssey Manifesting Artistic Dreams (NOMAD),
http://www.wattstowers.org/Calendar_of_Events.html Watts Towers Arts Center [Closes August 7]
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https://www.eservicepayments.com/cgi-bin/specialwebapp.vps?appid=40a27221f816144b21e9f2e0d81891b8a68820b814b79fc6caf83c6a4fcf06b22f288aa4a34fa442a76b20a4eb1041b03804f8ea477c0aa9238af05755ab7efe&bywebssid=fdb1d296d48390f47642ca31e9d95c70cd2db028> Download letter on how and what to donate<
http://www.wattstowerscommonground.org/documents/Watts_Food_Drive.pdf>.
Monetary Donations: Please make check payable to: "St. Alban's - Discretionary Fund" and send to: Communal Tables in Watts, c/o St. Alban's Episcopal Church, 580 Hilgard Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90024.
Food Donations: Preferred foods: non-perishable food items, including canned tuna, meat, vegetables, fruits, peanut butter, pasta, rice, beans, etc. Food may be dropped off either in Watts: MudTown Farms, c/o Watts Labor Community Action Committee, 10950 South Central Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90059,
http://www.wlcac.org/. Or in Westwood: St. Alban's Episcopal Church, 580 Hilgard Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90024,
http://www.stalbanswestwood.com/. (Please state when dropping food off that it is a donation for the: "Communal Tables in Watts" food drive.)
All foods and monetary donations will be distributed to local Watts residents through the food pantries of St. Lawrence of Brindisi Church, the Watts Senior Citizens Center, and the Watts Towers Arts Center. Donors will be listed online unless advised otherwise.
Volunteer: Please contact volunteer coordinator, Claire Lavagnino: clairelavagnino@???<
mailto:clairelavagnino@ucla.edu>, to see how you can help!
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Sponsors of "Communal Tables & Sustainability" Program: Accademia Italiana della Cucina - Italian Academy of Cuisine; Watts Towers Arts Center; MudTown Farms (WLCAC); St. Lawrence of Brindisi Church; St. Alban's Episcopal Church; St. Alban's Interfaith Beijing Circle; UCLA Italian Dept.; UCLA Chicana/o Studies; Celestino Drago Restaurant Group; Evan Kleiman, KCRW "Good Food;" Sam Perricone Citrus Co.; Meg Glasser, Food Forward LA; Wesley Foundation serving UCLA, and many individual donors.
Special Thanks to: Massimo Sarti, Caterina Magrone, Michela Magri', Serena Camozzo, Istituto Italiano di Cultura; Rosie Lee Hooks, Rogelio Acevedo, Augustine Aguirre, Alex Campos, Watts Towers Arts Center; Teresa Perez, St. Lawrence of Brindisi Church; Janine Watkins, MudTown Farms (WLCAC); The Rev'd. Susan Klein, St. Alban's Episcopal Church; Claire Lavagnino, Melina Madrigal, UCLA Dept. of Italian; Nancy Romero, Elena Tuttle, Edward Tuttle, Mattia Bastasin; the Buscemi Carlson Family; Russ Parson, Food Section, Los Angeles Times.
"Communal Table & Sustainability" Program Coordinator: Luisa Del Giudice
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about the...
Watts Towers Common Ground Initiative: Art-Migrations-Development
The extraordinary Watts Towers were created over the course of 3 decades by a single-minded artist-artisan, Sabato (Simon, Sam) Rodia, an Italian immigrant who wanted to do "something big." Now a National Historic Landmark and internationally-renowned icon, the Towers are both a personal artistic expression and a collective symbol of Nuestro Pueblo-Our Town/Our People. The Watts Towers Common Ground Initiative: Art-Migrations-Development seeks to celebrate the common ground of the Towers, a locus of creativity, of sustained resolve in adversity, and of positive public transformation. With an eye to renewing civic commitment to art in community contexts, this Initiative encompasses a range of public events throughout the city, including an international conference at the University of California at Los Angeles and Watts, and a festival of art, film, theater, music, communal food tables and city tours. Our goal is to address modes of sustaining art and community development within a civic environment of meager resources. We also aim to promote hospitality and partnership across geographic, social and other boundaries.
Both festival and conference carry forward the conversation begun at the international conference, Art and Migration: Sabato Rodia's Watts Towers in Los Angeles, jointly sponsored by the University of Genova and the UCLA International Institute (Italy, April 2009), which examined the monument's multiple resonances within the milieux of local and global migrations, of contested social and urban spaces, and of the rapport between art and economic development. How are these divergent discourses and goals best bridged? How is "common ground" fostered around the Watts Towers? The continued well-being of the Towers and their adjacent Art Center, as well as the divergent communities which sustain and are sustained by them depend upon how well we answer these questions.
Sponsors: Department of Italian at the University of California at Los Angeles; UCLA International Institute; City of Los Angeles, Department of Cultural Affairs; Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA); Italian Cultural Institute of Los Angeles (IIC); Consulate General of Italy in Los Angeles; Armand Hammer Museum; Saving and Preserving Arts and Cultural Environments (S.P.A.C.E.S.); Watts Towers Arts Center (WTAC); Watts Labor Community Action Committee (WLCAC); Museo Etnomusicale, I Gigli di Nola (Gigli of Nola Ethnomusicological Museum); St. Alban's Episcopal Church; Dept. of Special Collections, Young Research Library, UCLA.
Under the Auspices of the Consul General of Italy in Los Angeles
Check for Program Updates at:
http://www.wattstowerscommonground.org/festival_food.html
*Listen to radio segment on "Communal Tables in Watts" on KCRW "Good Food" Program, Sat. March 12, 11:00 a.m.:
http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/gf
