The collection documents anti-nuclear war festivals in 1982 and 1983 organized by L.A. Artists for Survival, one of the later generation of artists' groups to emerge from the Los Angeles Woman's Building. The materials show the evolution of the festival's development and execution, and comprise largely administrative and production files, photographic documentation, and ephemera.

Target L.A.: The Art of Survival was conceived as an anti-nuclear art and music festival by the L.A. Artists for Survival (LAAFS), which formed when David Lumian, the president of the Alliance for Survival, approached the political artist Lee Waisler to encourage artists' engagement in the nuclear disarmament movement. In January 1982, LAAFS held their first meeting and received an overwhelming response with over 100 artists in attendance. In the ensuing months, LAAFS' network expanded to over 300 artists. In addition to coordinating the anti-nuclear artists' group Sisters of Survival's performance "Shovel Defense" in May 1982, LAAFS collaborated with the Asian Pacific Americans for Nuclear Awareness and Asian Americans for Nuclear Disarmament to produce the two-day art and music festival Target L.A.: The Art of Survival, held on the anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The event, held at a two-level parking structure on the corner of Alameda and 3rd Street in Little Tokyo, featured art installations and performances by Mother Art, The Waitresses, UNARM, and others, as well as musical and spoken-word performances, "games of nuclear chance" such as "Pin the Lawsuit on the Reactor" and "Kiss the Bombs Goodbye," children's activities, and the "Fallout Fashion" show.

6.97 Linear Feet (13 boxes, 2 flatfile folders)

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Open for use by qualified researchers. Audiovisual material unavailable until reformatted.