“The Valley is upon an arts revolution, join the cause.”
The NoHo Arts District dot com team remembers hearing (and sometimes still does) people say, “I don’t go to the Valley!” Well that is changing, especially with the NoHo Arts District being home to more than 20 live, professional theatres, the highest concentration outside of NYC. NoHo is in the Valley but it’s a fun place to visit, work and live with a ton of things to do. The fun or creativity doesn’t stop in NoHo. We got the chance to chat with the folks who run 11:11 A Creative Collective, which is a San Fernando Valley Art Collective. They’ve been doing a lot of fun art projects in the entire Valley like pop-up galleries, art walks, murals and more. They helped put up our NoHo Mural. So when we hear those people say “We don’t go to the Valley!” we turn around and ask them, “Why not!?” So NoHo, meet the folks at 11:11 A Creative Collective and get involved with making more art in the 818.
(HISTORY)
11:11 A Creative Collective was formed in 2009 with mission of creating an active and cohesive art scene within the San Fernando Valley (SFV). We realized how often we were driving over the hill, in all directions, to experience art, go to gallery openings, to find a network of other artists to collaborate and build a community with. We soon decided that with a population of about 2 million people, the Valley and the residents deserved to be able to participate in this activity here at home. The Valley isn’t the suburbs anymore and it is up to us Valley-ians to create the type of community we’d like to live in.
(PROJETCS)
11:11 ACC has created a number of projects in the 818, including a string of pop up gallery shows turning empty storefronts, rented rooms and community centers into one night galleries, spanning from Canoga Park to North Hollywood. From 2010-2013 11:11 ACC created and hosted the Canoga Park Art Walk- Third Thursdays in collaboration with the Canoga Park Improvement Association, where over 300 artists, crafters, musicians, live artists and graffiti artists displayed their wares for the public, transforming the streets of downtown Canoga Park into a celebration of its local creative community with an attendance of over 3,000 people each month.
In 2011, 11:11 ACC teamed up with Westfield Topanga for a weekend long indoor art walk which included over 60 exhibiting SFV artists showing over 350 pieces of artwork spanning the main corridor of the newly renovated Westfield Topanga mall. With the SFV being synonymous with the Mall culture, 11:11 ACC’s goal was to expose this mall culture, were most things are mass produced and piled in, to one-of-a-kind artwork created by Valley locals.
11:11 ACC has participated in a number of community events including art shows and workshops and local SFV businesses, Milestone celebrations and festivals with neighborhood councils and business improvement districts and partnerships with stakeholders and business owners which have pushed the arts into the forefront of local activities.
in 2013, 11:11 ACC started the Fill in the _____ project partnering with a number of SFV and beyond public artists including Muralist Levi Ponce. The Fill In The Blank Project was created in conjunction with Los Angeles’ newly passed mural ordinance to coat the San Fernando Valley with public art. 11:11 ACC has facilitated 4 murals since the passing of the Mural ordinance, with a number of upcoming murals in the planning stages including the continuing of the NoHo Mural Project and a Music Inspired mural on one of the oldest music venues in the SFV.
(NAME)
In our search for a name that would encompass what we stand and strive for, we came across “11:11” and it resonated with the collective definition of our endeavors. Ones and Elevens are understood to be the number of enlightenment. “All is numbers” according to Pythagoras. In numerology, 11:11 represents idealism, visionary goals, intuition, revelation, artistic and inventive genius. Furthermore, 11:11 is also considered to be a doorway to the inner self and the subconscious. As artists and art lovers, we know that the subconscious can provide us with chock full of material for creativity and self-expression. This, we believe is an essential part of the creative process.
Although there are many spiritual meanings and interpretations of what 11:11 means, we also related to the simple notion that 11:11 is considered to be a lucky number. Some believe that if one spontaneously sees 11:11 on a clock (or in any other form) a wish can be made and there is a greater chance of it coming true. Our wish was and continues to be the creation of a thriving and cohesive art community in the San Fernando Valley.
(FUTURE)
We will continue the fill in the ____ project.
11:11 has partnered with the SFV based Valley Print Studio, a newly formed Fine Art print studio with the mission to serve community education and professional art-production, through the arts of print and paper-making. Together we will be hosting weekly and monthly classes and workshops classified under the “Educate & Create” Series of 11:11’s programming. 11:11 will also be hosting a number of gallery openings in 2014 focusing on local emerging artists as well as bridging the gap between the los Angeles art scene and the valley.
(GETTING INVOLVED)
If you’re an artist, simply show with us. Attend our events and support our cause to create a thriving art community in the Valley. Bring your friends to our workshops, participate in our various ‘art nights’, sign our mailing list to stay up to date with all our events. We support all art forms, be it visual, musical, written, sewn, crafted, danced, etc. and offer many opportunities to display your talent within our events.
If you’re an art lover or simply believe in the transformative power of the arts, come on out to our shows- introduce yourself! The Valley is upon an arts revolution, join the cause.
You can also donate to us (even though this is a 100% passion-run organization, there are many expenses that we could use some help with- and it will eve be a tax write off for you!) If you are a SFV stakeholder and would like to find a way to make the arts a center point of your business or community, let us know!
Find 11.11 ACC
Web: www.1111acc.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/1111acc
Instagram: @1111acc
Twitter: @1111_acc
**** For information on Los Angeles theatre, tickets to theatre in North Hollywood’s NoHo Arts District, theatre reviews, the NoHo Event Calendar, restaurants, news and local businesses in NoHo, bookmark nohoartsdistrict.com.
Author: Lisa Bianconi
Editor of www.nohoartsdistrict.com