Timeline

1997

1997

Founders Whitney Weston and Pierson Blaetz approached Fairfax High with the idea of creating a partnership with their arts nonprofit New Attitude Productions, eventually deciding on creating a weekly flea market to benefit both groups.

October 26, 1997

October 26, 1997

The weekly flea market opens as Melrose Trading Post on Sunday, October 26, 1997 with student volunteers and about 75 vendors: many local artists and startup businesses.

1998

1998

Melrose Trading Post student leadership programming begins weekly, with volunteer Fairfax student clubs and organizations leading the day-to-day operations alongside Greenway staff.

1998

1998

The founders discover an empty building, called Greenway Court, which was built by Fairfax students in 1939, and requested to renovate it into a theatre space.  They renamed their arts non-profit Greenway Arts Alliance in honor of the building.

1998

1998

Renovation of Greenway Court into Greenway Court Theatre begins, led by veteran theatre and set designer, James Eric.

1999

1999

Greenway Arts Alliance receives Most Outstanding Volunteer Award from Los Angeles Administrators Association.

2000

2000

Greenway Court Theatre opens its doors with the production of the world premiere Sonnets for an Old Century by Jose Rivera.

2000

2000

Da’ Poetry Lounge has its first Tuesday night open mic at Greenway Court Theatre and soon becomes the largest and most diverse weekly spoken word event in the country.  It later becomes the inspiration for Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam.

2000

2000

Greenway Arts Alliance starts its first arts education program, naming it the Arts Recovery Project, focusing on restoring Fairfax drama programs that had been cut from the LAUSD budget.

2001

2001

Greenway Court Theatre opens the original stage adaptation of They Shoot Horses, Don’t They, directed by Rick Sparks and garners 18 awards including the LA Weekly and LA Drama Critics Circle Best Production of the Year.

2001

2001

Greenway Arts Alliance co-produces Levy Lee Simon’s Haitian Trilogy, For the Love of Freedom, Part 1: Toussaint with the Robey Theatre Company.  Robey and Greenway are nominated for 10 NAACP Image Awards and won three: Directing, Ensemble Acting and Costume Design.

2002

2002

Actor’s Studio Writer and Director Lab begins weekly sessions at Greenway Court Theatre, led by playwright Lyle Kessler and Actors Studio Artistic Directors, Mark Rydell and Martin Landau.

2003

2003

Melrose Trading Post celebrates 5 years, expanding to 160 vendors, and employs 18 Fairfax students to lead hundreds of weekly volunteers.

2003

2003

Fostered at Greenway Court Theatre, Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam opens on Broadway.

2004

2004

Melrose Trading Post is featured in Lucky, Vogue, Jane and Home and Garden magazines.

2004

2004

Student-produced Public Service Announcements (PSA’s), created by Greenway’s in-school film program, Voices Unheard, are handpicked for national broadcast. Follow this link to view our PSA’s: https://vimeo.com/289772770/20a931c429

2005

2005

Tom Gibbon’s Permanent Collection, co-produced at Greenway Court Theatre with Robey Theatre Company, is a critical and audience favorite.

2005

2005

Greenway Arts Alliance and Actor’s Studio co-produce Orphans, by Lyle Kessler, starring Al Pacino and Jesse Eisenberg for a three-week run at Greenway Court Theatre.

2006

2006

Greenway Court Theatre’s production of Permanent Collection becomes part of the Center Theatre Group season at the Kirk Douglas Theatre.

2006

2006

A campus-wide beautification project and capital campaign begins at Fairfax High School, led by Greenway Arts Alliance and Friends of Fairfax.

2007

2007

Greenway Court Theatre’s production of Butterflies of Uganda: Memories of a Child Soldier, written by Darin Dahms and Sonke C. Weiss, receives a NAACP award for Best Director, Darin Dahms.

2008

2008

Good Bobby, a world premiere play about Bobby F. Kennedy by Brian Lee Franklin, opens at Greenway Court Theatre.

2009

2009

Greenway Court Theatre’s production of Good Bobby moves to New York City at the 59th Street Theatre for a successful four-week run.

2009

2009

Inkslam, Greenway Court Theatre’s new annual poetry festival, begins its first year.  

2009

2009

Greenway’s Arts Education program adds dance and poetry programming.

2010

2010

Greenway Arts Alliance revamps its Arts Education program and renames it Greenway Institute for the Arts.  Eye of the Lion, Fairfax High’s student news show is produced and broadcast on campus.

2010

2010

Greenway Arts Alliance wins the 2010 Social Enterprise “Fastpitch” Award from SEA Los Angeles.

2011

2011

Greenway Court Theatre’s production of I Love Lucy, Live on Stage, directed by Rick Sparks, premieres to sold-out crowds.

2012

2012

Greenway Arts Alliance renovates and opens new rooms at Fairfax High School to accommodate the increased attendance in the afterschool programming.  Greenway’s renovation included a soundstage, media room and dance studio for students.

2012

2012

Melrose Trading Post expands to include Fairfax High’s upper quad and increases to 240 artisan and vintage vendors.  CBS News and Travel and Leisure magazine list it as one of the best flea markets in the country.  Melrose Trading Post offers additional training to Fairfax students and graduates in areas of leadership and management.

2012

2012

Conducted in partnership with Greenway Arts Alliance and Friends of Fairfax, Fairfax High School’s capital campaign ends with the opening of a $14 million football stadium also supported in part by proceeds from Melrose Trading Post.

2013

2013

Greenway Court Theatre’s production of I Love Lucy, Live on Stage goes on a national tour.

2013

2013

Melrose Trading Post is listed #18 on Trip Advisor’s 100 Top Things to do in Los Angeles, and attendances jumps to thousands of patrons per week.

2013

2013

Greenway Arts Alliance’s unique partnership of a public school and an arts organization is featured in the Winter 2013 issue of the Stanford Social Innovation Review.

2014

2014

Greenway Arts Alliance creates new logos to better represent its programming.

2014

2014

Greenway Arts Alliance creates its arts accessibility initiative called Greenway Go, designed to increase arts programming at Greenway Court Theatre, opportunities for arts education through Greenway Institute for the Arts, and cultural performances at Melrose Trading Post.

2016

2016

Greenway Arts Alliance’s three departments, Greenway Institute for the Arts, Greenway Court Theatre and the Melrose Trading Post, together with Fairfax High School, launches GreenwayREADS, an all-school and community reading of George Orwell’s, 1984.

2017

2017

Inkslam, Greenway’s annual poetry festival, expands to provide a month-long programming and is renamed the LA Get Down Festival.

October 8, 2017

October 8, 2017

Greenway celebrates its 20th anniversary with a special event at the Melrose Trading Post and Greenway is honored with declarations from the City of Los Angeles.

2020

2020

GreenwayREADS literacy program expands, adding two additional LAUSD schools and 600 students.

2020 – Present

2020 – Present