On Wednesday, L.A. Material published a deep dive by former Times columnist Carolina A. Miranda about the disconnect between the educational programming promised by the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art when it was approved by the city, and what is has delivered now that it’s been open for almost two months.
It’s an issue that Team Arts has been looking into for a while, so I must admit to being scooped (and there is nobody I would rather be scooped by than Miranda). Before I get to some of my own reporting, I’ll note that Miranda’s story pointed out that for years — during the planning and development phases of the $1-billion museum — leaders including co-founder Mellody Hobson — touted an emphasis on educational programming. Hobson and her husband and co-founder, George Lucas, have even said that the abundance of schools in the area factored into their choice of the Exposition Park site.
Nonetheless, as The Times reported in May of last year, the museum laid off most of its education and public programming team — none of whom have been brought back. Miranda reports that its 10 classrooms in the southern wing of the building remain closed to the public.
The Lucas Museum issued a statement to Miranda saying its “education program is currently in development,” and that the “museum’s 10 studio and classroom spaces will be activated when it launches.” It gave no further details.
In response to a Times request for additional information on the museum’s educational plans moving forward, a representative for the museum reiterated that the education program is in development and will be rolled out in 2027 and that the studio and classroom spaces will be used at that time, with a focus on high school and college students.
School field trip reservations for younger students will also open in early 2027, the rep said, with priority given to nearby schools.
“We’re actively plotting our overall programming slate, and kids and family-focused offerings will be included in that rollout in 2027,” the rep wrote. “We’ll be glad to share more as our offerings for younger audiences develop.”
The Lucas Museum is situated on public land, and the state granted it a 99-year lease at an annual rate of $30 — a deal that came with a variety of contingencies including that the museum build new parking facilities, upgrade adjacent Jesse Brewer Park, and build and privately maintain 11 acres of public park space as part of its campus.
The approval of the project, however, came with various other promises of educational offerings. I’ve spent a lot of time sifting through a variety of city documents for reporting I did on a lawsuit filed against the museum by a contractor earlier this year, and some of the things I found related directly to education.
The first is the Letter of Determination issued by the Los Angeles Planning Commission in May 2017. That document lists “conditions for approval,” two of which deal with education. The first calls for the establishment of “a Local Access and Education Program (LEAP) to inspire and educate neighborhood students and residents generally located within a three-mile radius of the Museum.”
The entry explains the project goals in detail, “The LEAP will engage with area residents and students through innovative programs to explore the many narrative art forms represented in the Museum’s collection and exhibitions. Participants may engage with artists, educators, and staff, and be afforded opportunities for creative expression through the many forms of narrative art.”
LEAP elements, the entry explains, “will include collaborations with area schools, cultural institutions, and organizations, faith institutions and civic organizations designed to offer diverse opportunities for arts participation and to enhance the creative capacity of the community. The LEAP will be flexible, evolving and developing in order to meet the changing needs and desires of local students and residents.”
The next bullet point outlines another educational pillar: “The Museum will establish a Local Artists Program to engage local and community artists who live and/or work within a three-mile radius of the Museum in a broad spectrum of programs within the Museum. In connection with the Local Artist Program, artists in a range of media and technologies may provide instruction in Museum education programs, demonstrations in public events, or mentoring roles in apprenticeship programs onsite or at other locations.”
The Letter of Determination came a month after the Board of Recreation and Park Commissioners issued a report that listed education, among a handful of other perceived benefits, as an “overriding consideration” when it came to approving the museum construction project despite that fact that it was found to have “significant adverse impacts on the environment that cannot be reduced to less than significant levels through implementation of feasible mitigation measures.”
The environmental impact in question was related to “construction air quality” and the “overriding considerations” were used to “justify approval” of what the report calls the “Modified Project,” or Lucas Museum construction plans.
“Each of these overriding considerations individually would outweigh the adverse environmental impacts of the Modified Project,” the report notes before giving this detail: “The Modified Project will initiate, support, and carry out a wide range of robust education programs for all ages. These programs will include, but are not limited to, exhibition and museum tours, gallery talks, workshops and classes tailored to serve the curriculum of K-12 students, public lectures, hands-on workshops, and daily film screenings.”
When it comes to education, an invaluable part of any museum’s mandate, has Lucas been building castles, ahem, spaceships in the sky? Next year should bring answers. Until then, the children of the city wait.
I’m Arts editor Jessica Gelt wishing for clarity on oh so many things. This is your arts and culture news for the week.
The week ahead: A curated calendar
FRIDAY
Sam Falls, “Earth Camera” (2026). Fiber reactive dye and archival pigment print on canvas. 57 1/4 x 99 1/8 inches.
(Parker Gallery)
Sam Falls
“Picture of Health” is a solo exhibition by the Vermont-born, L.A.-based artist, who works across mediums, demonstrated here through paintings exposed to the elements, ceramics made with imprinted plant material and a recent return to photography, where his artistic practice began.
Opening Reception, 5-8 p.m. Friday; exhibition runs through Jan. 16, 2027. Parker Gallery, 6700 Melrose Ave. parkergallery.com
Faust
Director F.W. Maurnaau’s 1926 silent film with live piano accompaniment by Larry Garf. Rich Procter will introduce film and leads a post-screening discussion.
8 p.m. Sierra Madre Playhouse, 87 W. Sierra Madre Blvd. sierramadreplayhouse.org
Hello Again
The exhibition introduces the newly integrated holdings of the institution’s deep collection of California art, particularly from the 1960s and 1970s. Featured artists include Lita Albuquerque, John Baldessari, Romare Bearden, Tony Berlant, Judy Chicago, Richard Diebenkorn, Llyn Foulkes, Alfredo Ramos Martínez, Narsiso Martinez, Yoshitomo Nara, Robert Rauschenberg, Ed Ruscha, Betye Saar, Alexis Smith, Robert Therrien, Wayne Thiebaud, Andy Warhol, Beatrice Wood and many others.
Through April 11, 2027. UC Langson Orange County Museum of Art, 3333 Avenue of the Arts, Costa Mesa. langson.uci.edu
Nacho Ate Spiderman
The West Coast debut of Michelle Kholos Brooks’ new comedy about a missing rabbit and a suspect rescue dog. Directed by Casey Stangl.
Through Dec. 20. Ruskin Group Theatre Arts Center, 2800 Airport Ave., Santa Monica. ruskingrouptheatre.com
Asuka Anastacia Ogawa
The Japanese-born, L.A. based artist’s first exhibition at Perrotin Los Angeles, “Yume,” features a new group of paintings that explore themes of maternity and stillness through dreamlike worlds inspired by nature and spirituality.
Through Jan. 23, 2027. Perrotin LA, 5036 W. Pico Blvd. perrotin.com
SATURDAY
Dance Theatre of Harlem company artists Kouadio Davis and Alexandra Hutchinson in “Higher Ground.”
(Theik Smith / Dance Theatre of Harlem)
Dance Theatre Of Harlem
The renowned company performs the Los Angeles premiere of “Higher Ground,” set to the music of Stevie Wonder. The piece blends classical ballet and Black vernacular dance for an exploration of social issues. Choreographer Robert Garland originally created “Higher Ground” for the company’s 50th anniversary, and it debuted in 2022. The evening will open with a performance of William Forsythe’s “Blake Works IV,” inspired by the electro-soul music of British singer and composer James Blake. (Eloise Rollins-Fife)
8 p.m. The Soraya, 18111 Nordhoff St., Northridge. thesoraya.org
The Verdi Chorus
In “Verdi To Verismo,” conductor Anne Marie Ketchum leads the ensemble performing a program of operatic sequences from Verdi’s “Otello,” “Giovanna d’Arco” and “Il Corsaro,”as well as selections from Leoncavello’s “Pagliacci” and Puccini’s “Le Ville,” “Tosca” and “La Bohéme.”
7:30 p.m. Saturday. 4 p.m. Sunday. First Presbyterian Church, 1220 2nd St., Santa Monica. fpcsantamonica.org
SUNDAY
Cecilia Vicuña/Julian Charrière
These two shows by the inaugural winners of the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Environment and Art Prize promise a provocative marriage of poetry, presence and politics. Vicuña, based in New York and her native Chile, describes her work as an interaction of sound, weaving and language. She has worked in sculpture and performance for six decades, often using the quipu, an ancient Andean system of record-keeping through knotting, as form and metaphor. Her new project, “Quipu of Encounters: The Dream of Water,” centers on water as sustenance and a human right, and will culminate in the collaborative creation of a quipu. Charrière, a Swiss-French artist based in Berlin, works across the disciplines of photography, installation, sculpture and film. He conducts fieldwork in charged, fragile environments — glaciers, volcanoes, nuclear test zones, oceans — and creates immersive spaces for meditation on natural and human-centered processes, memory, change and more. His show, “Deep End,” too, will center on water systems, their precarity and endurance. (Leah Ollman)
Through June 6, 2027. Museum of Contemporary Art, 250 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. moca.org
Paul R. Williams, El Mirador Hotel Alterations and Additions (Job 52-2), PalmSprings, California; Swimming Pool, 1952.
(Della M. Williams Trust / Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles)
Paul R. Williams
Williams (1894-1980) was the first African American architect to be licensed in the West, and the first to be elected a fellow of the American Institute of Architects. He designed homes for high-profile clients like Frank Sinatra and Lucille Ball, as well as affordable, multifamily housing. His nearly six-decade career, largely centered in Los Angeles but ranging internationally, yielded thousands of building projects and urban plans. Three exhibitions — “Architect for Living,” “Architecture Across the Color Line” and “An Architect Considered” — fill out the story of Williams’ life, work, context and influence through photographs, plans and newly commissioned works by contemporary artists. They are accompanied by a deeply informative book. (Leah Ollman)
“An Architect Considered,” through March 13, 2027. USC Fisher Museum of Art, University Park Campus, 823 Exposition Blvd. fisher.usc.edu; “Architect for Living,” through May 31, 2027. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd. lacma.org; “Paul R. Williams: Architecture Across the Color Line,” Dec. 15-March 14, 2027. Getty Research Institute, J. Paul Getty Museum, 1200 Getty Center Drive, L.A. getty.edu
WEDNESDAY
Naghash Ensemble
Inspired by the poems of 15th-century Armenian priest Mkrtich Naghash, composer and pianist John Hodian and the vocal and instrumental group perform “Songs of Exile,” a meditative blend of folk, contemporary classical, post-minimalism, rock and jazz styles.
7:30 p.m. The Wallis, 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills. thewallis.org
THURSDAY
Children of the Winter Kingdom — The Bonkers Adventures of Holly and Spruce
The Actors’ Gang remounts its holiday fantasy musical entertainment about orphan twins who escape the circus and find themselves in an enchanted world. Written by Adam Dugas and Mary Eileen O’Donnell and directed by Dugas.
Through Dec. 20. The Actors’ Gang, 9070 Venice Blvd. Culver City. theactorsgang.com
East Meets West
Conductor Ludovic Morlot leads the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra in Huang Ruo’s “Folksongs for Orchestra”; Pipa musician Wu Man joins the ensemble for the world premiere of Mason Bates’ “Concerto for Pipa”; principal flute Benjamin Smolen takes the lead on another world premiere, Eímear Noone’s “Five Episodes in LA”; Arnold Schoenberg’s “Second Chamber Symphony” closes the program.
7:30 p.m. Thursday. Zipper Hall, 200 S. Grand. Ave, downtown L.A.; 4 p.m. Sunday. The Wallis, 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills. laco.org
The SoCal scene
Elliott Andrews, center, and the cast of the national tour of “The Music Man.”
(Big League Productions)
After Times theater critic Charles McNulty wrote a scathing review of “The Music Man” at the Ahmanson Theatre, and called out Center Theatre Group for hosting a non-Equity show, I followed up with a closer look at why more non-Equity shows are coming to L.A., and what that means for theaters and audiences.
Denis Villeneuve and Vija Celmins were honored last weekend at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s Art + Film Gala where Villeneuve joked about revealing who the next James Bond would be.
Actors rehearse “Passing Strange,” at the Pasadena Playhouse onOct. 31.
(Carlin Stiehl / For The Times)
McNulty was disappointed by the long-awaited L.A. premiere of the rock musical “Passing Strange” at Pasadena Playhouse. Maybe his hopes were just too high, he speculates.
In his review of Duncan Macmillan’s “Lungs,” McNulty declares Huron Station Playhouse, under artistic director Alden Ehrenreich, “L.A.’s coolest new theater venue.”
At long last Brandon Jacob-Jenkins’ “Purpose” arrives at Geffen Playhouse with its Broadway cast intact, and once again under the direction of Phylicia Rashad.
Carole Feuerman reveals “Monumental Quan,” along with her collection of sculptures titled “Monuments of Stillness,” on Rodeo Drive.
(Carlin Stiehl / For The Times)
What’s the deal with those massive, eerily lifelike sculptures of swimmers on Rodeo Drive? Let us tell you.
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Culture news
A giant satirical statue of President Donald Trump called, “The Foot Soldier,” created by Secret Handshake.
(Secret Handshake)
A golden Trump statue mocking his ‘draft-dodging’ bone spurs appeared on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. this week — just in time for Veterans Day. Oh, and it had a live mascot named “Toey.”
La Jolla Playhouse announced its 2027-28 (gasp!) season lineup, which includes the world-premiere, “Silver Linings Playbook — A New Musical.” Other offerings include: “A Magical Orange Grove in a Nightmare” (May/June 2027), by Noah Haidle; and “The Cutter Incident,” by Pulitzer Prize winner Doug Wright.
— Jessica Gelt
And last but not least
Downtown L.A.’s notorious graffiti towers have been wiped clean.