Wednesday, July 30, 2008

August 3rd - FREE Art workshops!


FREE to the community!

Sunday, August 3rd at 9:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. Self Help graphics & Art presents free children workshops in front of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.

555 W. Temple Street
Los Angeles, California 90012

Learn about Sister Karen and how she founded Self Help Graphics & Art. We will be making Sister Karen mascaras and tissue paper Flowers!

Please Join us in showing how important art, tradition and community are to Los Angeles!

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Left, Right and Center - Open Call













Councilmember Jose Huizar -Townhall Meeting

Tuesday, July 29, 2008
6:00 PM - 7:45 PM

Puente Learning Center
501 S. Boyle Ave.

For more information please contact:
District 14 Boyle Heights Field Office at 323.526.3059

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Let's get this movement started!

We have drafted a letter template that you can send to the LA Archdiocese. Sign it, add to it, modify or write your own. Let the LA Archdiocese and Roger Mahony know how you feel about what they have done to Self Help Graphics and the impact it will have in the community they are a part of as well.

Send (either in email or snail mail) to the LA Archdiocese at:

Archdiocese of Los Angeles
3424 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90010-2202
213 637 7000
info@la-archdiocese.org


Dear Cardinal Mahony,

I am writing to express my outrage that the Los Angeles Catholic Archdiocese secretly sold the mosaic building that is home to Self Help Graphics & Art. After its founding by Catholic nun Sister Karen Boccalero more than 35 years ago, non-profit organization Self Help Graphics & Arts was notified that the L.A. Catholic Archdiocese sold the building to a private real estate and investment company. We had no knowledge of the sale or pending sale. Why did the Archdiocese keep this sale secret? Why not give us the benefit of the doubt that we could rally the community and our leaders that so value our service to help us purchase the building? Given our years of service to the community and carrying on the legacy of our beloved founder Sister Karen, we deserve an explanation.

As long as the organization continued to fulfill the mission of advancing Chicano and Latino art and developing local and emerging artists, the Sisters of St. Francis, Mount Alverno agreed to allow Self Help Graphics & Art to use the building. With record-breaking print fairs, community festivals such as its iconic Día de los Muertos celebration which draws thousands of attendees and artists – both emerging and veteran – flocking to the organization as a place to cultivate their art, Self Help has been undergoing a renaissance. Last Fall Self Help board members were told that the building was not on the list of sites to be sold as part of the Archdiocese’s attempt to raise funds to pay the settlement to individuals who successfully sued the church for sexual abuse. When the Sisters signed the deed over to the Archdiocese for sale this year, you had an obligation, if not legal, at least a moral obligation, to notify us.

A spokesperson for the Sisters of St. Francis alleges that Self Help Graphics & Art failed to secure a grant to purchase the building, leading the sisters to transfer title to the archdiocese. They also allege that the organization was struggling financially. Who looks more desperate for money than the Archdiocese with a secret sale? Sadly, the tradition of deception to the community continues.

Despite a sagging economy and fight for non-profit resources the organization has thrived. Sales for prints from some of the nation’s leading Latino artists and up-and-coming artists have been booming.

Again, we ask for an answer. You created this mess. What are you going to do to help us solve this?

Friday, July 11, 2008

Self Help Graphics forced into crisis by the LA Archdiocese

LOS ANGELES COMMUNITY DEMANDS ANSWERS

Community is Outraged that Catholic Archdiocese Secretly Sells Self Help Graphics & Arts Historic Building

Over the last 24 hours elected officials, community leaders, artists and residents throughout Los Angeles expressed their outrage that the Los Angeles Catholic Archdiocese secretly sold the mosaic building that is home to Self Help Graphics & Art. After its founding by Catholic nun Sister Karen Boccalero more than 35 years ago, non-profit organization Self Help Graphics & Arts was notified that the Catholic Archdiocese sold the building to a private real estate and investment company. The organization had no knowledge of the sale or pending sale. Community leaders including Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina made it abundantly clear that the Archdiocese must explain its actions.

“We need answers,” Supervisor Molina said. “The Archdiocese’s blatant disrespect for the community is unacceptable. I commit to working with Self Help Graphics & Art to mobilize my elected official colleagues and other community leaders to demand that the archdiocese tell us why they mishandled this situation – and how they plan to correct it.”

As long as the organization continued to fulfill the mission of advancing Chicano and Latino art and developing local and emerging artists, the Sisters of St. Francis, Mount Alverno agreed to allow Self Help Graphics & Art to use the building. With record-breaking print fairs, community festivals such as its iconic Día de los Muertos celebration which draws thousands of attendees and artists – both emerging and veteran – flocking to the organization as a place to cultivate their art, Self Help has been undergoing a renaissance. Last Fall Self Help board members were told that the building was not on the list of sites to be sold as part of the Archdiocese’s attempt to raise funds to pay the settlement to individuals who successfully sued the church for sexual abuse.

A spokesperson for the Sisters of St. Francis alleges that Self Help Graphics & Art failed to secure a grant to purchase the building, leading the sisters to transfer title to the archdiocese. They also allege that the organization was struggling financially.

“It is preposterous to believe that one attempt at a grant a year ago should signal the Sisters and Archdiocese to move forward with a sale with no notice whatsoever,” said Self Help board of directors president Armando Durón. “Common human decency would have been to give us a deadline for purchase.”

After closing its doors for three months in 2005, Self Help has experienced resurgence with the help of an untold number of volunteers and the support of the community at large. With no federal or state subsidies or major private grants, the organization has thrived in its array of programs and services to the community. Sales for prints from some of the nation’s leading Latino artists and up-and-coming artists have been booming. The organization is considered by scholars and artists as one of the birthplaces of Chicano art.

“For nearly 40 years, Self-Help Graphics has been one of the major community-based arts centers serving Los Angeles. It has earned international recognition for its contributions to the graphic arts and for being a model of community-based art making and art-based community making. In the last three years, Self Help has reinvented itself as a self-sustaining organization, and it has shown the continued vitality and relevance of its mission by reaching new generations of artists and community members through innovative programs and cutting edge artistic production," said Chon Noriega, professor and director of the Chicano Studies Research Center at UCLA.
The terms of the sale from the new owner allow Self Help to remain in the building rent free until December 31, 2008.

Stephen Saiz, Self Help board vice president said the organization will be working with the community, elected officials, foundations, fellow arts institutions and other community leaders to determine the future for the organization.

“We have had a relationship with the Church for almost 40 years and expected them to value that relationship and more importantly, the service we provide to the community” Saiz said. “We are not going to allow their needs for funds to pay off their debts stop us from that service.”

Self Help Graphics & Art is a nationally recognized center for Chicano and Latino arts that develops and nurtures artists and printmaking. Self Help Graphics & Art seeks to advance Chicano and Latino art broadly through programming, exhibitions and outreach to diverse audiences in East Los Angeles and beyond. Self Help Graphics & Art seeks to identify young and emerging artists from the community in all aspects of its activities.