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COMMUNITY
Q: You’ve built a career making fantastically avant-garde art and helping other (equally fantastic and avant-garde) people make art, often in non-traditional spaces. How would you describe your contribution to the Art world?
Marcus: I feel like an Art Doula. I have helped birth many places that continue to thrive and serve communities to this day, including Highways Performance Space, Clean Needles Now, The 18th Street Arts Center and Oficina de Proyectos Culturales in Puerto Vallarta Mexico. I have also contributed to the city through my work at Community Arts Resources [CARS] over the years as a producer, programming consultant and arts educator. I have had the opportunity to participate on the their team producing large scale programs that serve the public such as Glow, Ciclavia, the Santa Monica Festival, Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Centennial Celebration and family programs at the Getty Center, Getty Villa and Fowler Museum. I am super proud of the work I have curated at Human Resources that has included artists Dorian Wood, Hiroshi Clark, Sarah Johnson, Jennifer Locke, Ampersan, Liz Miller-Kovacs, Austyn Rich and Mariel Carranza. I really love bringing a new experience to an audience. It is important to me to support the work of other artists. Early on I was told to pick one thing and stick to it. I just can’t. And at 53 that is not about to change. I really feel like all of the things I do come from the same place, the same well – no matter what it is. It kind of all feels the same to me whether it is a museum project or a drag parade on a bridge in a park! I have creative ADD. I am primarily a performance artist. I also curate performance art, design sets and costumes, installations, objects, produce other people’s things and work as a freelance Programming Consultant, Creative Consultant and Project Director. It sounds like model/waitress/actress but I really do get to do all of these things. I am a Cultural Mercenary.