Arts Community Striving to Help the Homeless

Like Randy White and those involved with Comic Relief, other Los Angeles artists are trying to nourish the body through nourishing the soul.

For example, the Shakespeare Festival/LA charges no admission but asks for donations of canned goods. And the Homeless Writers’ Coalition works to feed those who are homeless and offer them a sense of belonging, and to educate the more fortunate.

The Shakespeare Festival/LA, whose sixth season is under way with “Love’s Labour’s Lost,” never has charged admission because founders wanted the theater to be accessible to all. Organizers in 1986 chose to perform in Pershing Square; realizing that some homeless people spend their time there, organizers decided to provide “tangible help as well as cultural enrichment,” said Ben Donenberg, artistic director.

Originally, he said, some homeless in the park misunderstood the policy of collecting cans of food. They collected garbage bags full of empty aluminum cans instead and offered them to festival organizers, thanking organizers for performing where they could see.

“I said, ‘No, no, the idea was we were collecting food for you, ‘ “ Donenberg said.

Contributions are matched by the Vons Cos. Inc. and go to the Salvation Army’s Southern California Family Feeding Program. The program is for people who have made a commitment to breaking out of homelessness and are in transitional housing. Organizers did not want the food to be just a handout, Donenberg said. Last year, audience members donated 48,000 cans of food.

The Homeless Writers’ Coalition--a group of current or former homeless writers, poets and actors--holds poetry readings and recently produced a benefit play about drugs and homelessness. The play, “That Final Hit,” was written by Dino Lewis, who spent a year living in a cardboard box at Wall and Boyd streets. About a third of the cast are homeless now; most of the rest were homeless at one time.

Lewis shared the cardboard box with Jackie Townson, administrator of the coalition, who said participating in the poetry readings gave her a reason to go on.

“When we’d get to our box, we’d feel good about ourselves,” Townson said. “I speak with the voice of experience: If you have a little something to work for, you can make it.”

Another organization, Angel’s Flight, a downtown outreach center for homeless and runaway youth under 18, gives youngsters paint and canvases to tell their stories. A selection from the more than 300 finished paintings recently finished a monthlong exhibit at Barnsdall Park in Hollywood, titled “Angel’s Plight.” Others are on display downtown at the offices of Catholic Charities, which sponsors the outreach center. Attempts are being made to display some of the art in the White House rotunda in the fall.

“The art is incredibly strong and expressive,” said Father Richard Estrada, Angel’s Flight director. “There’s a lot of sadness, there’s a lot of violence, there’s a lot of hope.’