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Due to Overwhelming Demand: CongoSonic Exhibition Extended!

The 17th Annual African American Composers’ Series: CongoSonic — Bantu Beats Across the Americas

The rhythms still resonate—and now, they’ll play on even longer. We’re thrilled to announce that the current exhibition at the William Grant Still Arts Center has been extended beyond June 14 to August 1 due to overwhelming public response!

CongoSonic: Bantu Beats Across the Americas isn’t just an exhibition—it’s a cultural movement. Featuring immersive displays, rare musical artifacts, and videos from the Congo, this year’s series traces the powerful journey of Bantu-rooted rhythms across the Atlantic. From Congolese rumba to hip-hop, jazz, cumbia, salsa, and beyond, discover how sounds born of resilience and migration continue to shape the global music scene.

Presented in partnership with Friends of the Congo and Basandja Coalition, CongoSonic dives deep into both the legacy and the present-day reality of the Congo. While you explore vibrant sonic traditions, you’ll also gain critical insight into the ongoing humanitarian crisis affecting the region today.

Haven’t visited yet? Now’s your chance. Already came through? Come again—there’s always more to hear, see, and feel.

More film screenings and programs coming soon.

Free admission | William Grant Still Arts Center

Now extended – Closing August 1

After June 14, we will move to a Monday-Friday 12-5pm schedule for viewing due to summer programs.

Don’t miss the sound of a movement that continues to shape continents.

Screening Thursdays | 7:00 p.m.

The Rumba Kings, April 10, 2025
Neptune Frost, May 1, 2025
When We Were Kings, June 5, 2025

Questions? Please contact WGSAC at (323) 734-1165 or wgsarts@lacity.org.

This exhibition showcases experimental works of modern and contemporary calligraphic art, highlighting innovations in the art form. The exhibition explores the evolution of pictographs, the relationship between content and form, the development of new scripts, and the abstraction of the written word. It is accompanied by a scholarly exhibition catalogue.

Mark Bradford’s 150 Portrait Tone, a mural-size composition that contains elements of both abstraction and realism, is based on an idea for a work that the artist conceived after the fatal shooting of Philando Castile by a police officer in Saint Paul, Minnesota, in July 2016. Castile, a nutrition services supervisor at an elementary school, was shot after being pulled over in his car—an incident that was livestreamed on Facebook by Castile’s girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, who was sitting in the passenger seat next to him.

The painting features excerpts of Reynolds’s dialogue from the video. The title, 150 Portrait Tone, refers to the name and color code of the pink acrylic used throughout the painting. Like the now-obsolete “flesh” crayon in the Crayola 64 box (renamed “peach” in 1962), the color “portrait tone” carries inherent assumptions about who, exactly, is being depicted. In the context of Bradford’s painting, the title presents a sobering commentary on power and representation.

LHYAC is happy to announce the return of Young Artists Summer Camp! Summer Camp at LHYAC is open to all kids ages 6-13 who want to spend the summer immersed in the visual and performing arts! Our campers get the unique opportunity to experience a sampling of what the Art Center has to offer year-round in our after-school multidisciplinary arts classes in music, visual art, dance, theatre, mental health and wellness, and gardening. Campers will work with their young artist peers and staff mentors to create theatrical scenes, act, dance, sing, draw, work in the new California Native Plant Learning Garden and have lots of fun through creativity. Every day will begin with a socio-emotional check-in before the campers are guided through engaging activities and structured classes focused on 3 different arts disciplines per day and free-play everyday after lunch. A free lunch is provided daily through the LA Parks FREE Summer Lunch Program. Campers must bring a snack and water from home everyday. Come join the fun this summer and have your kids nurture their creative side in a joyful, safe, and friendly environment!

Young Artists Summer Camp is facilitated by LHYAC Teaching Artists and composed of a total of three camp cohorts grouped by age, with a maximum capacity of 8 campers in each group. In addition to our Teaching Artists, LHYAC Young Artist Summer Camp also has the support of caring and experienced Summer Youth Leaders who are there to supervise, guide, and assist our young artists at all times.

DAILY SCHEDULE OF OFFERINGS:
Monday: Sing Out Loud! Choir, Let’s Dance!, Arte101
Tuesday: Musical Theater Workshop, Nature + Art Lab
Wednesday: Music Exploration, Let’s Dance!, Arte101
Thursday: Broadway Basics, Yoga & Me, Creative Expressions Hour
Friday: Cultural Education Field Trip excursions and ensemble rehearsals