This week is apparently festival week – there are film festivals, book festivals, and wellness festivals happening online and some with in-person elements. Plus, more local museums and institutions are opening their doors to visitors, so there’s lots to do and see.
Arts & Culture
The 2021 Outfest Fusion QTBIPOC Film Festival is happening now through April 20th and includes 10 feature films, 41 short films, a One-Minute Movie Contest, two drive-in experiences at Exposition Park, and a dozen workshops and panels for filmmakers and general public to attend. The festival is also honoring I May Destroy You’s Michaela Coel and The United States vs. Billie Holiday’s Andra Day at a drive-in event on Saturday, April 17th at 7:00 p.m.
Another Film Festival happening now through April 25this the Bicycle Film Festival Los Angeles which “has been celebrating bicycles through art, film and music for the last 20 years with over 90 cities worldwide.” The lineup of selected short films are all available to stream for $10-20.
The LA Times’ Festival of Books is back again in virtual form from April 17th through April 23rd, and includes events with Guy Raz, Meena Harris, Don Lemon, and more. All the events are free, but RSVP is required.
The Hammer Museum gets added to the list of museums opening their doors to indoor visitors on Saturday, April 17th. One highlight is Made in L.A. 2020: a version – the fifth iteration of the series featuring 30 Los Angeles based artists, with a complimentary exhibit at The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. The Huntington is also reopening the first floor of the Huntington Art Gallery, the MaryLou and George Boone Gallery, and a portion of the Virginia Steele Scott Galleries of American Art on Saturday, April 17th.
If you want to nurture some future Los Angeles-based artists, join Miracle Mile Toys & Gifts every Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. for its outdoor art table for kids. This week they will be coloring Jane Goodall paper dolls as well as continuing to make use of their huge sidewalk for some chalk art fun.
Yet another festival will be celebrated on Sunday, April 18th from 12:00a.m. to 12:00 p.m.: KCRW’s 24 Hours of Serenity, a free all-day wellness festival featuring “everything from guided meditation with Valerie June to kitten cams, art classes with Self Help Graphics to baguette shaping with Bub and Grandma’s, soothing sounds of dublab artists to comforting home haircuts with ProjectQ…along with many KCRW voices you love and so much more.”
Community and History
On Tuesday, April 20 at 6:00 p.m., join Angel City Press for a discussion with Ken Bernstein about his new book Preserving Los Angeles: How Historic Places Can Transform America’s Cities. Bernstein oversees Los Angeles’s Office of Historic Resources, and in the book “tells this under-appreciated L.A. story: how historic preservation has revived neighborhoods, created a Downtown renaissance, and guided the future of the city.”
For more L.A. History, head downtown where LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes has just reopened its doors to the public this week. They’re open Thursdays through Sundays, 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. to view current exhibits, which include afroLAtinidad: mi casa, my city, Carlos Almaraz: Evolution of Form, The View From Here: Architecture As Witness To History, and more.
Just a few blocks away, the Japanese American National Museum has also just reopened on weekends, by reservation only. Current exhibits include Taiji Terasaki: Transcendients: Heroes At Borders and Under A Mushroom Cloud commemorating the 75th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Local Government
The Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council’s brand new Resilience Committee meets on Monday, April 19th at 7:00 p.m. and it’s especially good to attend if you were a little shaken, no pun intended, by the recent earthquake and want to help make sure the neighborhood is prepared for the next one.
