Self-Help Graphics & Art, the Eastside arts institution that’s been around for more than 40 years, may have beat back the tide of gentrification and rising rents in Boyle Heights and will be owner of the building it occupies.
The organization that began in the heyday of the Chicano Movement with Sister Karen Boccalero just finished the year with a double-dose of funding from local government agencies, ensuring it can stay at its current location just east of the L.A. River. It will be the first time in its history that the organization will own a building for its array of exhibits, printmaking, festivals, and workshops.
Yesterday (Dec. 19), Self-Help announced it is receiving $450,000 in redevelopment funding from the L.A. County Board of Supervisors. Along with $825,000 secured earlier this month in redevelopment funding from the City Council, this means the organization has enough to buy the state-owned site it currently uses on East 1st Street, in the flats of Boyle Heights.
The sale is for $3,625,000 for the former Ocean Queen seafood packing plant. In its quest to become owner of the building, Self-Help Graphics had already raised $2.8 million in private donations and foundation funding, said Betty Avila, co-director of Self-Help.
‘This is a homecoming for Self-Help Graphics.’