Family Friendly

Little Pieces of Heaven is a community art showcase celebrating creative expression. It showcases artwork that our community partners have created with the help of The Art of Elysium volunteer artists. The works reflect the areas of fashion design, film and theatre, music and movement, and visual arts. Little Piece of Heaven opens Tuesday, June 17, 2025, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the Midnight Mission. This event is free and open to the public.

Let The Art of Elysium know you’re attending, RSVP at LCLP@theartofelysium.org.

Discover the architectural charm of the Lanterman House, a historic site surrounded by patios and featuring thirty-two French doors. Guided tours, led by knowledgeable docents, last about 75 minutes and start from the Visitor Center. The venue offers free parking, but note that the house is not air-conditioned.

Tuesdays, Thursdays, and the 1st and 3rd Sunday of each month at 1:00 p.m.

Christmas Holiday display of our finest antiques, Santa Clauses, angels, choir boys, and village scenes that depict Dickens’s Victorian Christmas. Our Christmas tree will be decorated with our collection of antique ornaments and there will be a display of vintage Christmas cards.

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.

Stockholm-based artist Lap-See Lam presents “Tales of the Altersea” (2023), an immersive video installation inspired by the ruins of a dragon-shaped ship visible from her art school studio. The ship, which sailed from Shanghai to Gothenburg in 1990 intending to serve Chinese cuisine to European patrons, was eventually abandoned. Lam’s work explores themes of loss, memory, and resilience, utilizing the vessel’s history as a narrative foundation.

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.