African American Heritage Month

Event Type
Culture & Community
Family Activity
Event Department
Cultural Affairs
Description
Access to nature, recreation, and sites of relaxation—in other words, leisure—is critical to pursuing the full range of human experience, self-fulfillment, and dignity. The exhibition illuminates Angelenos and other Californians who worked to make leisure here an open, inclusive reality in the first half of the twentieth century. In shaping recreational sites and public spaces during the Jim Crow era, African Americans challenged white supremacy and situated Black identity within oceanfront and inland social gathering places throughout California.
Event Date
-
Event Location

California African American Museum
600 State Drive, Exposition Park
Los Angeles, CA 90037
United States

Event Lat/Long
34.0152307, -118.2861853
Fee Required
No
Event Cost
Free
Contact Phone
213-744-2024
Event ID
10287313
Event Main Image
Event Type
Culture & Community
Family Activity
Event Department
Cultural Affairs
Description
Riverside Art Museum is proud to present the second West Coast solo exhibition of Rico Gatson’s work. An interdisciplinary, Brooklyn-based artist, Gatson grew up in Riverside, California. His work is bold and graphic with art historical references to Russian Constructivism and Op art, while his wholly unique style highlights the complexities of Black life and its impact on American popular culture.

The exhibition is on view from Saturday, November 18, 2023 through Sunday, April 7, 2024 at the Riverside Art Museum in the Art Alliance Gallery.

 

Event Date
-
Event Location

Riverside Art Museum
3425 Mission Inn Ave.
Riverside , CA 92501
United States

Event Lat/Long
33.9817847, -117.3704849
Fee Required
Yes
Event Cost
$10.95 – $15.95
Contact Phone
951.684.7111
Event ID
10291536
Event Main Image
Event Type
Culture & Community
Family Activity
Event Department
Cultural Affairs
Description
Tatyana Fazlalizadeh is a Brooklyn-based interdisciplinary artist whose practice considers Black image making as a site of protest, contestation, affirmation, and possibility. At CAAM, Fazlalizadeh will present a series of portraits of Black Angelenos wheat-pasted across the atrium’s monumental walls. Based on photographs and conversations that took place this spring while the artist was living in Los Angeles, the portraits ask how safety is inferred, built, and felt for the city’s Black residents.
Event Date
-
Event Location

California African American Museum
600 State Drive, Exposition Park
Los Angeles, CA 90037
United States

Event Lat/Long
34.0152307, -118.2861853
Fee Required
No
Event Cost
Free
Contact Phone
213-744-2024
Event ID
10287365
Event Main Image
Event Type
Culture & Community
Family Activity
Event Department
Cultural Affairs
Description
Renowned American artist Betye Saar’s large-scale work Drifting Toward Twilight—recently commissioned by The Huntington—is a site-specific installation that features a 17-foot-long vintage wooden canoe and found objects, including birdcages, antlers, and natural materials harvested by Saar from The Huntington’s grounds.

 

“Betye Saar: Drifting Toward Twilight” transforms an entire room in the Scott Galleries into what the artist calls a “cocoon-like environment.” The walls are painted in an oceanic blue gradient, featuring a poem by Saar and phases of the moon. Shifting lighting effects in the gallery emulate phases of daylight to twilight, evening to night, and night to dawn. Inside the canoe, Saar positions mysterious “passengers,” including antlers in metal birdcages, children’s chairs, and architectural elements—all drawn from the artist’s ever-evolving collection of found objects. The space beneath the canoe is illuminated by a cool neon glow, highlighting plant material.

 

Betye Saar (b. 1926) is one of the most significant American artists. Over her six-decade career, she has created assemblage works exploring themes of racial oppression, mysticism, the occult, family, memory, and identity. She fashions her assemblage artworks from found objects, antiques, and family heirlooms that she collects. Emerging as an important artistic voice during the feminist and Civil Rights movements, Saar is a pioneer of Black feminist art who connected the personal with the political, taking on such subject matter as the legacies of enslavement and the impacts of racism.
Event Date
-
Event Location

The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Garden
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA
United States

Event Lat/Long
34.1278618, -118.1094516
Fee Required
Yes
Event Cost
$25 – $29
Contact Phone
626.405.2100
Event ID
10296256
Event Main Image
Event Type
Culture & Community
Family Activity
Music
Event Department
Cultural Affairs
Description

Discover the inspiration and purpose that fueled the creation of Black Punk Now, James Spooner, and Chris L. Terry’s latest book. Curated from the perspective of Black writers with connections to the world of punk, the collection mixes media as well as generations, creating a new reference point for music lovers, readers, and historians by capturing the present and looking toward the future. With strong visual elements integrated throughout, this smart, intimate collection is demonstrative of punk by being punk itself: underground, rebellious, aesthetic but not static—working to decenter whiteness by prioritizing other perspectives. The co-authors will lead a table reading followed by a moderated conversation with Tunde Adebimpe and Kash Abdulmalik. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to gain insights into the book’s inception and join in the discussion with our talented creators.

Event Date
Event Location

Los Angeles Library – Online
Los Angeles, CA
United States

Event Lat/Long
34.0522342, -118.2436849
Fee Required
No
Event Cost
Free
Event ID
10301203
Event Main Image
Event Type
Culture & Community
Family Activity
Event Department
Cultural Affairs
Description
Illustrator Dan Santat will share stories of his books, work, process, and life, along with the secrets of how he has published 100+ books for young people. Dan Santat is the Caldecott Medal–winning and New York Times–bestselling author and illustrator of The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend and the new feel-good coming-of-age memoir, A First Time for Everything. This event is recommended for school-age kids and families.
Event Date
Event Location

Online – Los Angeles County Library
Los Angeles, CA
United States

Event Lat/Long
34.0522342, -118.2436849
Fee Required
No
Event Cost
Free
Event ID
10285428
Event Main Image
Event Type
Culture & Community
Family Activity
Music
Event Department
Cultural Affairs
Description
The GRAMMY Museum is proud to offer a variety of public programming so you can enjoy musicians and industry professionals in an intimate environment for discussion and performance. Watch past Public Programs on COLLECTION: live, the official streaming service from the GRAMMY Museum featuring artist interviews, performances, and livestreams.
Event Date
Event Location

A Virtual Event with the GRAMMY Museum
800 W. Olympic Blvd Ste A245
Los Angeles, CA 90015
United States

Event Lat/Long
34.0442991, -118.2654656
Fee Required
No
Event Cost
Free
Contact Phone
(213) 725-5700
Event ID
10290497
Event Main Image
Event Type
Culture & Community
Family Activity
Event Department
Cultural Affairs
Description
The work of New York-based artist Sanford Biggers (b. 1970, Los Angeles) inaugurates the museum’s outdoor sculpture pedestal at Wilshire Boulevard and Glendon Avenue. Anchoring this corner is Oracle (2021), a cast bronze figure weighing 7.64 US tons (15,280 pounds) and standing at 25 feet tall. This monumental commission from Biggers continues his “Chimera” series that hybridizes the canonical figures and gestures of Greco-Roman sculpture with an assortment of iconic African objects from the 14th–20th centuries.

Sanford Biggers: Oracle is organized by Connie Butler, chief curator, with Ikechukwu Onyewuenyi, curatorial assistant.

Event Date
Event Location

Hammer Museum, UCLA
10899 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90024
United States

Event Lat/Long
34.0591217, -118.4436674
Fee Required
No
Event Cost
Free
Contact Phone
310.443.7000
Event ID
10290527
Event Main Image
Event Type
Culture & Community
Family Activity
Music
Event Department
Cultural Affairs
Description
The masterful pianist and vocalist’s initial focus was jazz, having formed the Nat King Cole Trio while in the late ’30s. Cole was signed to Capitol Records in 1943 and released his debut album, The King Cole Trio, a year later at the dawn of the LP format. Along with his trailblazing music career, Cole is recognized for his contributions to the struggle for racial equality. This Is Nat King Cole will take a look at Cole as an essential figure in several sociopolitical advancements, including the U.S. civil rights movement.
Event Date
Event Location

A Virtual Event with the GRAMMY Museum
800 W. Olympic Blvd Ste A245
Los Angeles, CA 90015
United States

Event Lat/Long
34.0442991, -118.2654656
Fee Required
No
Event Cost
Free
Contact Phone
(213) 725-5700
Event ID
10290467
Event Main Image
Event Type
Culture & Community
Film
Event Department
Cultural Affairs
Description
Numerous African American-related events have taken place at the Mark Taper Auditorium as part of the Library Foundation of Los Angeles’ ALOUD series. Explore those conversation online.
Event Date
Event Location

Los Angeles Library – Online
Los Angeles, CA
United States

Event Lat/Long
34.0522342, -118.2436849
Fee Required
No
Event Cost
Free
Event ID
10290392
Event Main Image