Founded in 1985 by John Malpede, the Los Angeles Poverty Department was the first performance group in the nation composed mainly of homeless and formerly homeless people. LAPD's mission is to create high-quality challenging performance work that express the realities, hopes and dreams of people who live and work on Skid Row. LAPD's goal is to make powerful art that is a direct communication from its performers to its audiences and that is able to leap tall social barriers at a single bound. Malpede was already a well-known performance artist when he began working on Skid Row. Since its inception, LAPD has performed nationally and internationally.
Faculty members are both educators and working professionals in their fields.
The Department believes that education in the performing arts can and must serve as basic liberal arts and professional training, grounding students in the theories and expression of the social and cultural past and present. All students earning a B.A. in Theatre Arts and Dance complete their course of study with a capstone experience of community-based performance service. Its objective is to facilitate programs around the world in all artistic fields. The French Cultural Services in the United States helps American institutions design projects related to French culture, including symposia, theater productions, concerts, and film festivals. The French Cultural Services in Los Angeles is particularly active thanks to the high interest of local programmers, universities and other cultural organizations.