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Self-Help Graphics Goes Down?
If rumor and innuendo are to be believed, the nonprofit Self-Help Graphics and Art has been shut down. Artist/blogger Mark Vallen has the story of the state of the East LA landmark, which was founded by Chicano artists in the early '70s and became a center of the Chicano arts movement (punk rock, too). In recent years Self-Help Graphics has featured a gallery, gift shop and community arts classes in addition to its silkscreen studio. While their website mentions nothing of the closure (in fact, it loudly announces a search for a new Executive Director beginning this April) nobody's anwering the phones, and the gates have clearly been locked. The Board of Directors will meet with interested members of the community for a discussion on Tuesday the 28th at 7pm. The location, the Ave 50 Studio in Highland Park, is neither near East LA nor any bigger than your average Starbucks. The call is on for concerned artists and activists to show up and convince the board to reopen Self-Help Graphics' doors; look for the artsy, agitated mob on the sidewalk and you'll know you're in the right place.
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