The threat to PBS and the arts: L.A. arts and culture this week

A week ago, President Trump’s Office of Communications issued a news release titled “The NPR, PBS Grift Has Ripped Us Off for Too Long.” The missive went on to criticize the use of taxpayer money to support National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service, which, according to the Trump administration, “spread radical, woke propaganda disguised as ‘news’.”

It was soon reported that the administration had drafted a memo to Congress stating that it intended to end almost all federal funding for public media. The loss of funding for both organizations could very well cripple or eliminate local radio and television member stations, even if their parent companies survive.

This would be an immense loss for the arts — and arts-loving TV viewers.

“PBS and our member stations are America’s largest classroom, the nation’s largest stage for the arts and a trusted window to the world. In addition, PBS’s educational media helps prepare children for success in school and opens up the world to them in an age-appropriate way,” reads the “About” page on the PBS website. And it’s true.

Some of PBS’ most popular and enduring shows deal directly with the arts. Think “Great Performances,” which has been around since the early 1970s and dubs itself as TV’s longest-running performing arts anthology. For decades it has presented live shows from stages across the world, including opera, plays, ballets, musicals, classical music concerts and more in an easily digestible format for those unable to catch the shows in person.

Then there’s “American Masters,” which — since 1986 — has detailed the life and times of some of the world’s most noteworthy and accomplished artists and performers, including Charlie Chaplin, Andy Warhol, James Baldwin, Leonard Bernstein, Harlem Renaissance sculptor Augusta Savage, Liza Minnelli, Art Spiegelman and George Plimpton.

And let’s not forget the wildly popular “Antiques Roadshow,” which often unearths a dusty piece of art, craft or design and assigns it worth.

While most of Trump’s grievances with PBS — as outlined in his news release — center around the non-commercial broadcaster’s airing of shows that deal with racial identity and LGBTQ+ issues, the scope of programming has broad-based appeal for anyone seeking to learn more about themselves and the world through the beautiful and challenging lens of arts and culture.

If you’re worried about losing public access to this kind of programming, you can always donate to your local station at pbs.org/stations. You can also call your congressperson to urge them to vote against defunding PBS and NPR. The administration plans to send its memo to Congress on April 28, at which point a 45-day window opens for the House and Senate to cut off the money, or allow it to be restored.

I’m arts and culture writer Jessica Gelt, thinking of all the times I watched PBS as a kid, and how the love and inclusiveness displayed in its children’s programming helped shape me into a curious, empathetic adult. Ashley Lee and I are here with your weekly arts rundown.

Best bets: On our radar this week

Evgeny Kissin
“The Russian-born pianist … currently a British and Israeli citizen highly critical of the Russian government (which recently declared him a ‘foreign agent’), and a composer and Yiddish poet as well as pianist, Kissin has become a kind of world citizen whose recitals have an intensity all their own,” says Times classical music critic Mark Swed. “It’s been a while since he’s been back to L.A., but the Los Angeles Philharmonic presents his first recital in more than a decade for a program of Bach, Chopin and Shostakovich. With luck, Kissin can be enticed to read and play his own works as well.” Thursday, 8 p.m. Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. laphil.com

‘The Winter’s Tale’
Skylight Theater presents an accessible, modern verse translation by director Tracy Young, adapted with Lisa Wolpe, of Shakespeare’s drama about a tyrannical and paranoid ruler who plunges his kingdom into darkness, and a princess wielding extraordinary power who emerges to heal the land and its people. The 90-minute production, currently in previews, opens Thursday and runs through June 14. Skylight Theatre, 1816 1/2 N. Vermont Ave., Los Feliz. skylighttheatre.org

‘Scale Maps of the Ocean Floor’
Timothy Hawkinson Gallery is showing a collection of works by linn meyers, Jenene Nagy and Marc Pally — all of which are labor-intensive abstractions that straddle the line between drawing and painting. (The exhibition’s titular ocean floor is metaphorical.) The precise and pattern-centric exhibition, which opened last month, is on view through April 26. Timothy Hawkinson Gallery, 7424 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles. timothyhawkinsongallery.com

— Ashley Lee

The week ahead: A curated calendar

TUESDAY
In the Spirit A rare 35mm screening of the 1990 comedy; the only film directed by acting coach Sandra Seacat, it was co-written by Jeannie Berlin, who stars along with her mother Elaine May, Marlo Thomas and Peter Falk.
7:30 p.m. Brain Dead Studios, 611 N. Fairfax Ave. studios.wearebraindead.com

WEDNESDAY
Third Annual New Works Festival Five days of staged readings and discussions of plays by writers from across the country.
Through April 27, Trinity Theatre, Mission Valley Mall, 1640 Camino Del Rio N., Suite 129, San Diego. trinityttc.org

Poetry in the Garden Camae Ayewa, with V.C.R on violin, is next up in this weekly series of live readings featuring poetry inspired by the Getty Research Institute exhibition “What They Saw: Historical Photobooks by Women, 1843–1999.”
2 p.m. Getty Center, Central Garden, 1200 Getty Center Dr. getty.edu

The Violin Maker ICT artistic director caryn desai directs the American premiere of Lisa Pearl Rosenbaum and Ronda Spinak’s new play based on the real-life story of Israeli Amnon Weinstein, who collected and restored ruined violins that survived the Holocaust.
Through May 11. International City Theatre, 330 E. Seaside Way, Long Beach. ictlongbeach.org/theviolinmaker

THURSDAY
The Secret Comedy of Women Playhouse Productions present an immersive evening of skits and improv on all things female created by Barbara Gehring and Linda Klein.
Through May 18. The Colony Theatre, 555 N. 3rd St., Burbank. playhouseinfo.com

TCM Classic Film Festival “The Empire Strikes Back” on opening night, the world premiere of a restored version of “The Wiz,” a 30th anniversary screening of “Heat” and an original technicolor release print of “Jaws” are among this year’s marquee offerings, along with the usual “meet and greets” with stars and panel discussions with experts, all rolling out in historic venues along Hollywood Boulevard.
Through April 27. TCL Chinese Theatre and Chinese 6 multiplex; Egyptian Theatre; El Capitan Theatre; and the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. filmfestival.tcm.com

Culture news and the SoCal scene

The artist Don Barchardy spent decades living with his partner, writer Christopher Isherwood, and it’s the former’s drawings of the latter as he was close to death that Times art critic Christopher Knight found particularly moving in a new retrospective, “Don Bachardy: A Life in Portraits,” at the Huntington. The survey consists of just over 100 works on paper, including a portrait Bachardy made of Knight in 1983. Knight’s experience sitting for the renowned artist, who is now 91 years old, proved illuminating for his understanding of the way Bachardy worked. “The vulnerability was mutual, extending to both artist and sitter,” Knight writes in his glowing review of the show.

Times classical music critic Mark Swed recently paid a visit to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington to take in “Moon,” a series of short dances choreographed by Mark Morris. The Kennedy Center-commissioned show was part of the center’s “Earth to Space: Arts Breaking the Sky” festival, with Morris’ dances honoring the Kennedy-era space program that resulted in Neil Armstrong’s famous 1969 moonwalk. Swed wandered the Kennedy Center campus before the show, finding the place — recently (and infamously) taken over by President Trump — oddly melancholic and deserted. Morris’ show changed that feeling, however, and could light the way for the future of the now highly politicized national arts center, Swed writes in a column.

The Geffen Playhouse announced its 2025-26 season — the second under its new artistic director, Tarell Alvin McCraney — and it’s chock full of shows the theater spent time workshopping while his lauded inaugural season filled seats. “It’s an effort intended to cement the Geffen as a lab for artistic development and a platform for creative experimentation and development of new works,” writes Ashley Lee in an article about the new season. Read all about the upcoming shows here.

A character diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer is at the center of playwright Keiko Green’s world-premiere play, “You Are Cordially Invited to the End of the World!”, directed by Zi Alikhan and now playing at South Coast Repertory. Times theater critic Charles McNulty found himself agreeing with Green’s suspicion that the end may well be nigh, but found the play slightly uneven. Nonetheless, “its discursive heart is in the right place for these grievous times,” he writes.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a motion introduced by Supervisor Kathryn Barger and co-authored by Supervisor Hilda L. Solis that allocates $50,000 to shore up “art-centered” fire recovery efforts in Altadena. “The funding will support initiatives including conservation clinics, fire recovery preservation kits, and resources for artists and community members whose creative works and personal collections were damaged by the fire,” a news release about the initiative explains. The motion empowers the L.A. County Department of Arts and Culture to use community feedback to “ensure Altadena’s unique arts, culture, and identity are part of the rebuilding process.”

If you enjoy shopping at Trader Joe’s, chances are you’ve noticed the art on the walls. It’s always unique, and often site-specific, and now there’s a book about it. “The Art of Trader Joe’s: Discovering the Hidden Art Gems of America’s Favorite Grocery Store,” written by Julie Averbach, examines the walls of more than 150 TJ’s across the country, and is based on an art history thesis about the subject that Averbach penned while at Yale. In an email, Averbach wrote that some of her favorite art displays are in L.A. “Did you know that [the] Trader Joe’s store in Eagle Rock features a grocery-themed parody of ‘The Starry Night’ by Vincent van Gogh? Or that the artwork in Trader Joe’s Hollywood & Vine store pays tribute to classic Hollywood cinema, from ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ to Marilyn Monroe?”

— Jessica Gelt

And last but not least

The drive to the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival was all about the billboards. This year, artists booked coveted space with self-promotional ads that showed remarkable creativity and verve.