Cultural Spring in Crenshaw District : Arts Transform Degnan Boulevard

“I personally feel this was our Soweto,” said filmmaker Ben Caldwell of the uprising after the verdicts in the Rodney G. King beating. “I call it a revolution because it’s of the mind and spirit and it’s lifted the kind of 20th-Century apartheid off the American black people. They called the Soweto uprising a riot, too, and I think that this really was that type of a change.”

Caldwell’s small Crenshaw District storefront has served as headquarters for two projects since he moved into the corner space facing Leimert Park three years ago. As the KAOS Network, it functions as a meeting place and “media house” for area artists; Video 3333 is the name for the bearded filmmaker’s ongoing artist-in-residence program working with local youth in video production, rap music and graffiti art.

But it is only one element in the ongoing transformation of the two-block section of Degnan Boulevard, bordered by 43rd Street and Vernon, into a center for African-American arts and arts-oriented business activity. During the last five years, a substantial number of small-scale, self-initiated projects have been establishing a visible cultural presence in the heart of the Crenshaw District.

“I know the value of these places--I’ve seen it in my own life,” said poet-activist Kamau Daaood, who founded the World Stage jazz workshop with drummer Billy Higgins. “They have the potential of fostering lives and shooting people in different directions. The arts can be very uplifting and needed, not only to the individual but to the community.”

The Degnan concentration includes art galleries and artist studios, shops selling African artifacts and clothing, and live performance workshops ranging from the World Stage to actress Marla Gibbs’ Vision Theater and nearby Crossroads Arts Academy. A recurring motivation: providing inspiration and information to area youth.

“As business people in this community, we have to make an extra effort because we do not get any city or cultural affairs help,” said Brian Breye’, owner of the Museum in Black. “The African art is part of the culture I enjoy, and I think if young people see it and know from where they came, they would have some idea and concept of where they should be headed.”

Added visual artist Ramsess, whose Ramsess Ink. was among the first artist studios on Degnan: “A lot of kids in this area don’t know anything about black filmmakers, artists or plays, and this area can bring that out to them. There are other artists that want to come in the area with a different medium, and they’re just waiting for space.”

The influence of these arts activities may be largely intangible but the World Stage, founded three years ago and funded largely through audience donations, is one place where the short-term impact is more measurable. Its occasional Saturday afternoon “Master Series” music clinics have featured such international figures as Elvin Jones, Max Roach and Ron Carter along with local luminaries Billy Higgins and Horace Tapscott.

But educational coordinator Don Muhammad stressed that the World Stage’s principal focus is nurturing new talent, not presenting big names. Two groups that formed there, Black/Note and the B-Sharp Quartet, are now regular performers on the local jazz circuit. The former has a CD on the World Stage label; the latter has one scheduled for release soon.

“All our band members met at the World Stage, so I would have to say it is our birthplace musically,” said Black/Note bassist Mark Shelby between sets at Marla’s Memory Lane. “It was the best jam session in town and, for a lot of people, that’s their only gig during the week. There’s so much creativity on that block and the World Stage is like the heartbeat.”

The World Stage hosts performances Friday and Saturday nights by local artists that, like the Thursday jam session, begin at 9:30 p.m. Jazz vocal and poetry/writing workshops are held at 7 p.m. each Tuesday and Wednesday, and there’s an open mike forum Sunday afternoon.

Caldwell tapped into another creative tradition when he moved into a different location in the Leimert Park area eight years ago. His Video 3333 program has focused on shaping the artistic expressions of local youth in the forms and styles they were interested in.

“The kids need jobs, but beyond that, it’s self-respect,” he said. “When I was working with the kids, I gave them this space and said you’re keeping the tradition of a griot. You guys are working in a higher form and I’ll try to drop the information on you in little bits and pieces on how you’re keeping that type of tradition.”

But artistic voices and cultural slants usually fall at the end of the line behind job-creating ventures in grand designs like Rebuild L.A. None of the arts-oriented locales were damaged during the uprising, which the Degnan-area artists interviewed all took as a sign of how positively their presence is viewed within the community. But most were skeptical over whether money would filter down to their grass-roots level.

A lot of it is politics, said Ramsess. “The money has always been given to organizations to do what they felt was necessary for the area, and they have one view of what they think is art and what is acceptable. The artist will have a different interpretation and, many times, they can’t come together.”

Added the World Stage’s Muhammad: “There’s already been more focus, but the thing I’m concerned with now is how long will they stay focused? You always get a lot of stirred activity after such a situation, but a lot of it dissipates fast--sometimes as fast as (it takes for) the media to turn their back. We have to see whether these things are still going to be there four, five months down the road.”

But most Degnan artists aren’t banking on outside support to pursue their objectives. Marla Gibbs has plans for using the 1,100-seat Vision Theater for several series of music concerts, educational seminars and film screenings to complement the Crossroads Academy’s 99-seat theater and courses in cultural and performing arts. For now, the larger theater is being rented to outside producers.

“It doesn’t matter whether anybody else believes it or not,” she said. “You are the power in your community, and if you don’t understand (that) and relegate it to somebody else, they start putting what they think you want as opposed to what you want.

“The theaters and workshops have been taken out of the community, and the grants are not going there. I’d love some support but, if I can’t get it, it won’t matter and it can’t matter because it’s my grandchildren and children that are going to be affected.”

Added Caldwell: “Within the last five years, there’s been so much growth (in this area), and I think the next five years will be even more powerful. We have strong art here, and it’s a power place. For some reason, it’s just there--it just happens, and you can be a player or you can get run over by it.”

Today at 1 and 3 p.m., KAOS Network (4343 Leimert Ave.) will host video screenings and panel discussions about the L.A. riots as part of the Film Forum series “Media With an Attitude: Art & Activism in the ‘90s.” There is no admission charge.