Héroes de la Comunidad
October 2020 - May 2021
SUMMARY
Héroes de la Comunidad is a community-produced zine and a series of public art murals designed to help keep MacArthur Park residents safe during the COVID-19 pandemic. A collaboration between students of the MacArthur Park arts organization Art Division under the guidance of USC Roski MFA graduate student José Guadalupe Sáchez III, Arts in Action, and the USC Fisher Museum of art, the 32-page zine illuminates facts about the virus and its transmission, the proper use of personal protective equipment, and best practices when commuting, shopping, and interacting, in both English and Spanish.
More than 1000 physical copies of the zine have been distributed throughout the surrounding neighborhood and to the larger Los Angeles community via current and former Art Division students, the Consulates of Mexico and Chile, various community organizations and directly to the community with giveaways at local stores.
In March 2021, Outfront/Decaux, the company that manages local bus shelters in a public/private partnership with Los Angeles City, installed graphics from the zine upon bus stops in the MacArthur Park neighborhood. This collaboration is a continuation of Outfront/Decaux’s Community Activation project which has worked with Art Division (among others) to bring public art by local artists to the community. The bus shelter graphics also include a QR code so those that see it can further explore the entire publication digitally.
PROJECT OBJECTIVES
- Provides MacArthur Park residents with the tools and knowledge to combat the spread of COVID-19 through youth-produced art and creative messaging
- Guides participating artists through a process of leading creative responses to an urgent community issue, while providing teaching opportunities for USC students
TESTIMONIALS
“This project was a collaborative journey highlighting the heroic efforts that immigrant families make every single day to make the world a safer place, especially during this trying time of COVID-19. We hope this zine can assist in this effort by supplying information where it may be limited.”
José Guadalupe Sánchez III, MFA Art candidate, USC Roski School
“Our design was meant to contrast the sterile, informational pamphlets many of us have been bombarded with, especially when information changed frequently and there was misinformation being spread around; ‘Community Heroes‘ is vibrant, informative, and humanizes essential workers, specifically those in the Latinx community.”
Vanessa Melo, Art Division Zine Artist
