Featured Events

A Community Learning and Networking Program for Arts Professionals

Program Description

The DCA Evening Webinar Series for Arts Workers, in partnership with Arts for LA, is an opportunity for the local arts and cultural community to build networks through listening, learning, and exchanging insights. This year, the program comprises three cohorts.

These evening exchanges offer opportunities for attendees to ask questions, share comments or recommendations, and interact at the end of the sessions. If interested, local artists and arts workers are welcome and encouraged to join multiple cohorts throughout the course of the series.

These meetings (starting at or after 6:30 p.m. PST) are virtual and held on regular intervals to encourage consistent enrollment, continuous participation, and evolving benefits. Please note that all the cohort meetings will be recorded.

2025 Cohorts

(attendees can join any cohorts at any time)

Leadership Cohort for Artists with Disabilities

Dates: March 26, April 23, May 21, June 4, June 25, 2025
Time: 6:30 to 8:00 p.m.
Registration: https://bit.ly/3FjfIU9
Speakers: Laura Brody, Socks Whitmore, and Vanessa Cruz

Important information: This cohort will include American Sign Language interpreting and real-time captioning throughout the five sessions. For registration assistance or additional support, reach out to mouna.benbouazza@lacity.org. To request a reasonable accommodation in advance, please contact (213) 202-5503 (Voice), dial 7-1-1 for CA Relay, or email mouna.benbouazza@lacity.org at least five business days before the event. We’ll make every effort to accommodate requests with less notice. Copies of documents are available in alternative formats upon request.

Outdoor Festival Producers

Dates: March 27, April 16, May 14, June 11, June 26, 2025
Time: 6:30 to 8:00 p.m.
Registration: https://bit.ly/4kXOTW0
Speakers: Pierre Arreola, Tanisha Hall, Diane Robertson

Entertainment Industry Writers of Color – Coordinated by Arts For LA

Commissioned on the occasion of Hollyhock House’s centennial, Janna Ireland: Even by Proxy presents twenty-one photographs by the artist that introduce new perspectives on Los Angeles’ only World Heritage site. Ireland’s photographs privilege the quiet, subtle details of Hollyhock House and make visible the care and conservation that sustain the site over time.

The title of the exhibition comes from Frank Lloyd Wright’s autobiography, in which he describes the process of realizing Hollyhock House. For Ireland, Wright’s phrase “even by proxy” points to the fraught relationship between client and architect in building the house as well as the ongoing project of preservation.

Even by Proxy is presented in partnership with Project Restore and the Julius Shulman Institute at Woodbury University.

Janna Ireland lives in Los Angeles, where she is an assistant professor in the Department of Art and Art History at Occidental College. Her photographic work is primarily concerned with the themes of family and domestic life, the built environment, and interactions between humans and the natural world.

Her 2024 mid-career survey, Janna Ireland: True Story Index, was jointly hosted by the Santa Barbara Museum of Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara. In 2016, she began photographing structures designed by legendary Black architect Paul R. Williams. A collection of 250 of these photographs was published in a monograph entitled Regarding Paul R. Williams: A Photographer’s View, in 2020. In 2021, Ireland was awarded a Peter E. Pool Research Fellowship by the Nevada Museum of Art to photograph Williams’ work in Nevada. The resulting solo exhibition traveled from the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno to the Nevada State Museum in Las Vegas and the AIA Center for Architecture in New York.

Ireland’s photographs are held in the permanent collections of institutions including LACMA, SFMOMA, the Nevada Museum of Art, the California African American Museum, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, and the Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago. Janna Ireland is the 2024 recipient of the Julius Shulman Institute Excellence in Photography Award, which is presented to a photographer who honors Shulman’s legacy by challenging the way we look at physical space. She is the recipient of the 2023 Carolyn Glasoe Bailey Foundation Art Prize, a 2023 City of Los Angeles Independent Master Artist Program (COLA-IMAP) grant, and is a 2024 runner-up for the Aperture Portfolio Prize. Her work has been the subject of articles in publications including The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Financial Times, Harvard Design Magazine, and Aperture. She holds an MFA from the UCLA Department of Art and a BFA from the Department of Photography and Imaging at NYU.

Advance reservations recommended. To book a self-guided tour ticket, CLICK HERE.

Fostering Photovoice: a photo exhibition about the foster youth experience, features photographs that depict identity, family, and the foster care system by six LA based foster youth artists. Join us for our Closing Reception on March 8, 2025. Stay tuned for upcoming details.

Fostering Photovoice is a group photography exhibition that reflects the lives and experiences of youth impacted by foster care. The project was conceived by a photovoice research collective that included six artists—all former foster youths between the ages of 18 and 25 who reside in Los Angeles County. Several UCLA undergraduate and graduate students were involved, among them, participants who have had lived experience in foster care, or had expertise in using the arts-based empowerment method called photovoice for research and social policy.

The collective came together over 7 weeks during the summer of 2023. The exhibition is organized by prompts and considers the differences in the views of each artist. It includes reflections on who the youth are, how they think about family, and how they would have liked the system to respond to and support their needs.

The series invites the viewer to beliefs about foster youth and the foster care system, including any biases they may have. It is also an opportunity to reflect on how to best support foster youth who enter state care through no fault of their own—both as children and as they transition to adulthood.

A Community Learning and Networking Program for Arts Professionals

Program Description

The DCA Evening Webinar Series for Arts Workers, in partnership with Arts for LA, is an opportunity for the local arts and cultural community to build networks through listening, learning, and exchanging insights. This year, the program comprises three cohorts.

These evening exchanges offer opportunities for attendees to ask questions, share comments or recommendations, and interact at the end of the sessions. If interested, local artists and arts workers are welcome and encouraged to join multiple cohorts throughout the course of the series.

These meetings (starting at or after 6:30 p.m. PST) are virtual and held on regular intervals to encourage consistent enrollment, continuous participation, and evolving benefits. Please note that all the cohort meetings will be recorded.

2025 Cohorts

(attendees can join any cohorts at any time)

Leadership Cohort for Artists with Disabilities

Dates: March 26, April 23, May 21, June 4, June 25, 2025
Time: 6:30 to 8:00 p.m.
Registration: https://bit.ly/3FjfIU9
Speakers: Laura Brody, Socks Whitmore, and Vanessa Cruz

Important information: This cohort will include American Sign Language interpreting and real-time captioning throughout the five sessions. For registration assistance or additional support, reach out to mouna.benbouazza@lacity.org. To request a reasonable accommodation in advance, please contact (213) 202-5503 (Voice), dial 7-1-1 for CA Relay, or email mouna.benbouazza@lacity.org at least five business days before the event. We’ll make every effort to accommodate requests with less notice. Copies of documents are available in alternative formats upon request.

Outdoor Festival Producers

Dates: March 27, April 16, May 14, June 11, June 26, 2025
Time: 6:30 to 8:00 p.m.
Registration: https://bit.ly/4kXOTW0
Speakers: Pierre Arreola, Tanisha Hall, Diane Robertson

Entertainment Industry Writers of Color – Coordinated by Arts For LA

Fostering Photovoice: a photo exhibition about the foster youth experience, features photographs that depict identity, family, and the foster care system by six LA based foster youth artists. Join us for our Closing Reception on March 8, 2025. Stay tuned for upcoming details.

Fostering Photovoice is a group photography exhibition that reflects the lives and experiences of youth impacted by foster care. The project was conceived by a photovoice research collective that included six artists—all former foster youths between the ages of 18 and 25 who reside in Los Angeles County. Several UCLA undergraduate and graduate students were involved, among them, participants who have had lived experience in foster care, or had expertise in using the arts-based empowerment method called photovoice for research and social policy.

The collective came together over 7 weeks during the summer of 2023. The exhibition is organized by prompts and considers the differences in the views of each artist. It includes reflections on who the youth are, how they think about family, and how they would have liked the system to respond to and support their needs.

The series invites the viewer to beliefs about foster youth and the foster care system, including any biases they may have. It is also an opportunity to reflect on how to best support foster youth who enter state care through no fault of their own—both as children and as they transition to adulthood.

In celebration of the NEA Big Read: Los Angeles, the Barnsdall Junior Arts Center will provide 4 sequential workshops exploring various mediums such as Photography, Poetry, and Collage.

Each week students (ages 12-17) will work with a different Professional Artist producing work that explores various themes from Sandra Cisnero’s The House on Mango Street. All artwork created will be assembled into a Booklet/Zine that will be distributed for the public to acquire and experience.

*Students must attend orientation and all workshops

Registration opens on Eventbrite on Tuesday, April 1, 2025, 9:00 a.m., eventbrite.com/e/nea-big-read-art-workshops-4-classes-ages-12-17-tickets-1301224640929?aff=oddtdtcreator. 

Workshop Schedule:

This series will meet in Studio 1 for 4-weeks on Saturdays from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. beginning April 26th and ending May 24th.

Class Dates and Times:

Saturday, April 19, 11:30 a.m. to 12:00p.m.- Orientation

Saturday, April 26, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.- Photography Workshop with Star Montana

Saturday, May 3, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.- Poetry Workshop with Teresa Hernandez

Saturday, May 17, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.- Collage Workshop with Graham Moore

Saturday, May 24, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.- Bookmaking Workshop with Io Olivera

For more information, contact BJAC Inquiries: DCA.Barnsdall.JAC@lacity.org

Fostering Photovoice: a photo exhibition about the foster youth experience, features photographs that depict identity, family, and the foster care system by six LA based foster youth artists. Join us for our Closing Reception on March 8, 2025. Stay tuned for upcoming details.

Fostering Photovoice is a group photography exhibition that reflects the lives and experiences of youth impacted by foster care. The project was conceived by a photovoice research collective that included six artists—all former foster youths between the ages of 18 and 25 who reside in Los Angeles County. Several UCLA undergraduate and graduate students were involved, among them, participants who have had lived experience in foster care, or had expertise in using the arts-based empowerment method called photovoice for research and social policy.

The collective came together over 7 weeks during the summer of 2023. The exhibition is organized by prompts and considers the differences in the views of each artist. It includes reflections on who the youth are, how they think about family, and how they would have liked the system to respond to and support their needs.

The series invites the viewer to beliefs about foster youth and the foster care system, including any biases they may have. It is also an opportunity to reflect on how to best support foster youth who enter state care through no fault of their own—both as children and as they transition to adulthood.

Fostering Photovoice: a photo exhibition about the foster youth experience, features photographs that depict identity, family, and the foster care system by six LA based foster youth artists. Join us for our Closing Reception on March 8, 2025. Stay tuned for upcoming details.

Fostering Photovoice is a group photography exhibition that reflects the lives and experiences of youth impacted by foster care. The project was conceived by a photovoice research collective that included six artists—all former foster youths between the ages of 18 and 25 who reside in Los Angeles County. Several UCLA undergraduate and graduate students were involved, among them, participants who have had lived experience in foster care, or had expertise in using the arts-based empowerment method called photovoice for research and social policy.

The collective came together over 7 weeks during the summer of 2023. The exhibition is organized by prompts and considers the differences in the views of each artist. It includes reflections on who the youth are, how they think about family, and how they would have liked the system to respond to and support their needs.

The series invites the viewer to beliefs about foster youth and the foster care system, including any biases they may have. It is also an opportunity to reflect on how to best support foster youth who enter state care through no fault of their own—both as children and as they transition to adulthood.

The community is invited to attend DCA’s William Grant Still Arts Center (WGSAC) opening reception of CongoSonic: Bantu Beats Across the Americas, Saturday March 29, 2025, from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m.

From the vibrant rhythms of traditional Bantu instruments to the infectious grooves of Congolese rumba and soukous, CongoSonic: Bantu Beats Across the Americas delves into how music from the Congo has shaped genres across the Americas—including jazz, rock n roll, hip-hop, cumbia, salsa, and bachata. On display, you will find a collection of albums, photographs, and other materials that showcase the lasting influence of the greater Congo on our continents.

Explore the cultural connections formed through the African diaspora, discover iconic artists like Franco Luambo and Papa Wemba, and trace the enduring legacy of Congolese rhythms in modern music from legends such as Louis Armstrong, Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, and Nina Simone to Big Mama Thornton, Zapp, Celia Cruz, Prince Buster, and aja monet. Featuring interactive listening opportunities, including live performances, and rare artifacts, CongoSonic highlights culture, music and movement commonalities in the Americas from Congo while reflecting on the devastating humanitarian and ecological crisis currently unfolding.

The opening reception is Free and open to the public.

CongoSonic: Bantu Beats Across the Americas shows from Saturday, March 29 to Saturday, June 14, 2025. Gallery hours: Tuesday through Saturday, Noon to 5:00 p.m.

To learn much more about the exhibition, please visit wgsac.wordpress.com/2025/03/06/congosonic-bantu-beats-across-the-americas/.

Exhibition programming:

Opening Reception, Saturday, March 29, 2025 | 3:00 to 6:00 p.m.

Djs Adé and Fresko in vinyl conversation

Workshop and Performance, Saturday, April 19, 2025

11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.  | Workshop with Petna Ndaliko Katondolo

1:00 – 4:00 p.m.  | Performances by aja monet and Jimetta Rose and the Voices of Creation

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.

A weekend of events celebrating performances by female solo performers in drama, dance, and music. The festival also awards distinguished women of theatre.