Preserving the George Floyd protest murals: L.A. arts and culture this week
In Minneapolis, residents, activists and artists painted murals and messages on plywood boards used to protect storefront windows during the unrest. More than 1,000 of those pieces of art have been collected and preserved by the organization Memorialize the Movement. The Minnesota Star Tribune recently ran a fascinating profile by Dee DePass and Alicia Eler of MTM's founder and executive director, Leesa Kelly, along with two other community activists, Kenda Zellner-Smith, who created the group Save the Boards, and Jeanelle Austin, who started George Floyd Global Memorial, now called Rise and Remember.
Together, the three women have dedicated themselves to ensuring the Floyd protest art remains visible and accessible to the public. A large portion of their time is spent on fundraising to pay for the costly storage of the boards.
According to the Star Tribune, the rent on Memorialize the Movement's warehouse is $3,500 a month, and the group spends another $1,500 on utilities and staff. Fundraising for this kind of work may become more challenging with the Trump administration's ban on diversity, equity and inclusion — not to mention the possible elimination of the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities.
These headwinds have not dimmed the spirits of the women, who regularly stage exhibitions of the protest murals in places such as Minnesota's Carleton College, Normandale Community College, Franconia Sculpture Park and Roseville Lutheran Church, as well as Watermill Center in upstate New York,
For more information on Memorialize the Movement, click here.
I'm arts and culture writer Jessica Gelt taking a moment to reflect and remember. Read on for this week's arts news.
Haven't yet made plans for Memorial Day? Go to a museum! Here's a quick sampling of places that are open on the holiday:
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County will be open from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. See the new NHM Commons and the dinosaur Gnatalie. The NHM's sister operation at the La Brea Tar Pits & Museum also is open, same hours. nhm.org
The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in L.A. will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. You can take in the new exhibition 'Director's Inspiration: Bong Joon Ho,' centered on the filmmaker behind 'Parasite,' 'Mickey 17' and 'Snowpiercer.' Make a day of it and walk over to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, which will be open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena will be open its usual Monday hours, noon to 5 p.m. Times critic Christiopher Knight offers this exceptionally helpful guide to the collection.
Unless it's Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Year's Day, the California Science Center in Exposition Park is always opens, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with free admission to the galleries. Bring kids to the just-opened interactive exhibition 'Game On! Science, Sports & Play' or the return of 'Dogs! A Science Tale.'
The Huntington in San Marino will be open. 'Don Bachardy: A Life in Portraits' (read Knight's praise for the show) and the Betye Saar site-specific installation 'Drifting Toward Twilight' are on view, and temperatures in those fabulous gardens should be lovely.
Times theater critic Charles McNulty spent time in New York talking with Kimberly Belflower about her Tony-nominated play, 'John Proctor Is the Villain,' starring Sadie Sink from the Netflix hit 'Stranger Things.' The play, about students in Georgia reading Arthur Miller's 'The Crucible,' 'casts a mysterious spell that I'm still processing a month later,' McNulty writes.
Meanwhile, back in L.A., McNulty praises a lovely revival of playwright Terrance McNally's musical adaptation of the 1994 film 'A Man of No Importance.' The film starred Albert Finney as a Dublin bus conductor obsessed with Oscar Wilde and amateur theater. The musical team behind 'Ragtime' — Stephen Flaherty (music) and Lynn Ahrens (lyrics) — adds whimsical dimensions to the story. Of particular note, McNulty writes, is the 'graceful direction of the company's producing artistic director, Julia Rodriguez-Elliott,' who 'finds freedom in Wilde's iconoclastic example.'
Arnold Schoenberg arrived in L.A. after fleeing Nazi Germany in the mid-1930s, and the composer eventually found himself in a meeting with MGM producer Irving Thalberg about scoring 'The Good Earth.' This encounter provided the genesis for Tod Machover's opera, 'Schoenberg in Hollywood,' which staged its West Coast premiere at UCLA's Nimoy Theater. Times classical music critic Mark Swed was present and wrote this review, noting at the end that despite all of his contributions to the city's cultural ecosystem, Schoenberg does not have his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The Theatre Producers of Southern California, a trade group representing nonprofit theaters, is raising alarms about Gov. Gavin Newsom's proposed $11.5-million cut to the Performing Arts Equitable Payroll Fund, which was only recently instituted after years of efforts by struggling arts organizations. 'We understand that the state faces a challenging budget deficit and are prepared to support you in making difficult decisions,' board vice president Beatrice Casagran said in a statement. 'However, the proposed clawback of 100% of the state's entire investment in the Payroll Fund will eradicate six years of bipartisan legislative efforts to address cascading negative impacts that have led to dire economic instability for workers in the live arts.'
The Actors Equity Assn., under its president, Brooke Shields, also opposes the proposed cuts. 'At a time when the arts are under attack in Washington, D.C., it's deeply disappointing to also be fighting funding cuts again in Sacramento. California, which now ranks 35th in the nation in arts funding, cannot be a leader in the arts if it continues to cut arts funding year after year,' Shields said in a statement.
Concerned voters can ask their senators to sign on to the letter opposing the cuts by state Sen. Ben Allen to the Senate Budget Committee. They also can ask their assemblymembers to sign onto the letter by Assemblyman Matt Haney to the Assembly Budget Committee.
Los Angeles Opera is staging a costume shop sale for the first time in more than a decade, and the public is invited. Expect handmade outfits from shows such as 'Carmen,' 'The Magic Flute' and 'Macbeth.' A news release about the event describes the offerings: 'From 16th-century finery to fantastical creations, this sale includes complete costumes in all sizes, along with wigs, accessories, shoes, jewelry, masks, headpieces and more, each piece a work of art designed by visionaries such as Julie Taymor, Constance Hoffman, Gerald Scarfe and Martin Pakledinaz.' The fun gets going in the lobby of Dorothy Chandler Pavilion at 9:30 a.m. on June 21 and lasts until 3 p.m.
The Washington Post reports that former Kennedy Center President Deborah Rutter is defending the finances of the organization prior to President Trump's takeover. Rutter's leadership has been under attack by the center's new interim director, Ric Grenell, who accused her and other former executives of 'fraud' during a speech at the White House last week. 'I am deeply troubled by the false allegations regarding the management of the Kennedy Center being made by people without the context or expertise to understand the complexities involved in nonprofit and arts management, which has been my professional experience for 47 years,' Rutter said in a statement to the Post.
— Jessica Gelt
The headlines out of Cannes this year feel a bit subued, if not bleak. But leave it to Times film critic Amy Nicholson to open her latest Cannes diary with a Samoyed walking the red carpet in a ruffled gown. And because I love him and I miss him, I also point you to The Times' former Pulitzer Prize-winning critic, Justin Chang, who has this stellar coverage.
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