For Crenshaw, By Crenshaw

At “How Do You Grow a Rose From Concrete?,” Destination Crenshaw Leaders Shared Their Vision for Community Permanence in South L.A.

“We are the hub of a community,” asserted Crenshaw High School principal Donald Moorer, who opened Thursday’s Zócalo event. It was the first in a series partnering with Destination Crenshaw, the organization behind the 1.3-mile-long public art and infrastructure project being erected along Crenshaw Boulevard.

The event was an invitation for panelists and audience members to consider the community stakes of the ambitious project—which includes pocket parks and original artworks by Alison Saar, Maren Hassinger, and Kehinde Wiley—and what it means for Black history, Black art, and …

More In: The Takeaway

Why Shouldn’t Phillis Wheatley’s Poems Show Up at an NFL Game?

At Last Night’s Event—”Can a Football Stadium Be a Black History Museum?”—Panelists Argued to Democratize Culture

On the rarified second level of SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, amid premium owner suites and premium beer sales, there’s an Angela Davis quote plastered on a wall.

“Our histories never …

The App Economy Is the Past—And Not Necessarily the Future

“‘What Is a Good Job Now?’ In Gig Work” Shows How Algorithms Have Transformed Freelancing, and What Comes Next

In a week when a federal labor rule went into effect making it easier for app-based gig workers to be classified as employees (with significant pushback), and a month after …

One Nation … Under Parliament?

The Zócalo and Los Angeles Times Event ‘Would Parliamentary America Have More Fun?’ Considers a U.S. Governed by Multi-Party Coalitions

“Convince me,” Los Angeles Times columnist Erika D. Smith told Maxwell L. Stearns, the author of the forthcoming book Parliamentary America: The Least Radical Means of Radically Repairing Our Broken …

Life After Incarceration Starts in Community

“‘What Is a Good Job Now?’ For the Formerly Incarcerated” Reveals the Hard, Long Work of Building Careers for People Reentering Society

What is a good job now?

That has been the guiding question for Zócalo’s ongoing series investigating low-wage work across sectors in California—supported by The James Irvine Foundation. Thus far, we’ve …

Hearing America in Matches, Police Whistles, and Percussion | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Hearing America in Matchsticks, Police Whistles, and Clanking Coins

‘How Do We Hear America?’ Concludes Zócalo’s 2023 Public Programs Season on a High Note

“American Ledger no. 1” sounds different each time.

That’s by design, MacArthur fellow Raven Chacon told Zócalo before a performance of his ambitious sound and visual retelling of the nation was …