18th Street Arts Center

18th Street Arts Center is one of the top artist residency programs in the United States and the largest in Southern California. Conceived as a radical think tank in the shape of an artist community, 18th Street supports artists from around the globe to develop meaningful artworks through research, innovative thinking, and community engagement. Part of the organization’s goal is to provide artists the space and time to take risks and exhibit their works publicly, fostering the ideal environment for artists and the community to directly engage, and to create experiences and partnerships that foster positive social change.

Before the official founding of 18th Street Arts Center, the campus served as a studio for a group of feminist artists throughout the 1970s-1980s, providing space for artists engaged in a unique social practice. Artists like Judy Chicago, Susanna Bixby Dakin, Barbara T. Smith, and Linda Burman laid the foundation for the space’s long history of supporting new genres and feminist movements. Since the Center was founded as a nonprofit under its official name in 1988, 18th Street has fostered and supported the work of many of Los Angeles’ most engaging artists and has welcomed artists across the world to visit the LA County art scene. 18th Street also hosted the West Coast arm of ACT-UP, a grassroots organization aimed at addressing the AIDS crisis. Additionally, it was the site of publication for High Performance, a quarterly, Los Angeles-based magazine that published reviews of performance and experimental artworks for nearly two decades. It continues to cultivate socially responsible art from local and international artists, serving the community by deconstructing the traditional elitism of the art sphere and ensuring art is accessible to a wider network of audiences.