Art Fans Immerse Themselves in Van Gogh With Covid-Safe Enhancements

Art Fans Immerse Themselves in Van Gogh With Covid-Safe Enhancements

Los Angeles, CA. “Immersive Van Gogh” is captivating the imagination of local art lovers. The imagery of Van Gogh’s art appears on the walls and floor and is multiplied in mirrored sculptures throughout three galleries. Visitors enter and tour the exhibit with others who are grouped in the same time period. It features a 40-minute video installation playing on a loop. Organizers say, “To ensure your safety, and based on guidance from the CDC and other government agencies, our walk-in exhibition will operate with enhanced safety measures including face coverings. Safety is our number one priority for all guests attending Immersive Van Gogh Los Angeles..”
Located at 6400 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, the 55,000 square-foot dubbed the Lighthouse is the former home of Amoeba Music. The building was transformed into an art experience featuring a 25,000 square foot exhibit space where the art of Vincent van Gogh comes to life. Vincent van Gogh was a Dutch post-impressionist painter born in 1853.

Created by Italian film producer and exhibition creator Massimiliano Siccardi, the video incorporates 400 animated Van Gogh images and mostly original music by Italian composer Luca Longobardi.

Award-winning designer David Korins, known for his set designs featured in numerous Broadway hits including ‘Hamilton’ and ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ helped define the space. It’s one of twenty Immersive Van Gogh exhibits currently on display in the U.S. and promotors say is the largest.

The installation includes the Mangeurs de pommes de terre (The Potato Eaters, 1885), the Nuit étoilée (Starry Night, 1889), Les Tournesols (Sunflowers, 1888), and La Chambre à coucher (The Bedroom, 1889), and more.

This exhibit is from the creators of the installation seen by over 2 million visitors in Paris and a sold-out run in Toronto, the Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit makes its mark in the heart of LA.

From Immersive Van Gogh:

Adult general admission for the show, co-produced by Lighthouse Immersive and Impact Museums, starts at $39. It runs through January but may be extended. Here’s a link to tickets.

Safety is our number one priority for all guests attending Immersive Van Gogh Los Angeles. With over 170,000 visitors in Toronto during COVID-19, and zero reported cases associated with the exhibition since opening, we’re proud to be operating an experience where it is safe to GOGH.

To ensure your safety, and based on guidance from the CDC and other government agencies, our walk-in exhibition will operate with enhanced safety measures including:

• Touchless hand sanitization stations placed throughout the venue 

• Contactless payment encouraged throughout the venue

• Face coverings required for all staff and guests

• Social distancing circles projected throughout the entire exhibition gallery space

• Enhanced, regular cleaning throughout the day on each floor

We will continue to closely monitor the situation daily, and adjust our safety measures accordingly, in readiness for our opening.

Thanks for your patience and understanding during these challenging times.

 

 

Ballona Creek Renaissance Hosts Annual Cleanup

Ballona Creek Renaissance Hosts Annual Cleanup

Culver City, CA. Each year, on the third Saturday of September, the Ballona Creek Renaissance contributes to Coastal Cleanup Day. The Culver City community, along with thousands of other communities around the world, do their part to reduce pollution in their neighborhoods. Volunteers for the Ballona Creek Renaissance focus on designated areas of the creek, removing trash on the banks, from the water, and the bike path or fencing.

Organizers say, “We discover lots of other items which somehow make their way into the creek. Previous cleanups have yielded toys, balls, shopping carts, carpeting, signs, mattresses, dead animals, and drugs and medical equipment. We ask the City to remove dangerous items. After the cleanup is complete, the City or County will dispose of all the trash collected. In truth, the cleanup is symbolic, representing just a tiny fraction of the trash in the creek, but it raises awareness.”

Below is a video about the program:

Ballona Creek is a flood-controlled channel that is approximately nine miles long. During the dry heat, the creek flows with urban runoff, which contains pollutants from the city. Coastal Cleanup Day is hosted just before Southern California’s rainy season. The volunteers, made up of adults, students, and young children alike, typically spend two to three hours at the creek during the Ballona Creek Renaissance’s advertised cleanups.

For more information on Coastal Cleanup Day, and Coastal Cleanup Month, visit its founding organization Heal The Bay. To learn more about the Ballona Creek Renaissance and its upcoming projects, click here.

‘Love in Action’ Telethon Supports the Los Angeles LGBT Center

‘Love in Action’ Telethon Supports the Los Angeles LGBT Center

Los Angeles, CA. The Los Angeles LGBT Center is one of the primary support systems for LGBT individuals and families; it offers programs, services, and advocacy for the LGBTQ+ community within Los Angeles and beyond. Last Saturday, the Center partnered with KTLA to host a virtual telethon called Love in Action. The show collected donations for the nonprofit’s most vital programs and services.

The two-hour event, presented by The Ariadne Getty Foundation and Glamazon L.A., featured appearances from many household names, including Jane Lynch, Adam Lambert, Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, RuPaul, among others. For those of you who were not able to attend the event live, KTLA uploaded it to YouTube.

From the Los Angeles LGBT Center:

Since 1969 the Los Angeles LGBT Center has cared for, championed, and celebrated LGBT individuals and families in Los Angeles and beyond. Today the Center’s nearly 800 employees provide services for more LGBT people than any other organization in the world, offering programs, services, and global advocacy that span four broad categories: Health, Social Services and Housing, Culture and Education, Leadership and Advocacy. We are an unstoppable force in the fight against bigotry and the struggle to build a better world; a world in which LGBT people thrive as healthy, equal, and complete members of society.

To find out more about the Los Angeles LGBT Center, including future events, programs, and services, learn more here.

Free Arts LA Helps Foster Kids Express Themselves

Free Arts LA Helps Foster Kids Express Themselves

Los Angeles, CA. Free Arts LA was founded with the goal of helping children in the foster system who had suffered from trauma or abuse by teaching them to express themselves and rebuild their self-esteem through art and craft. Today, the organization helps over 22,000 children across Los Angeles by pairing children with adult mentors and volunteers who guide the children through the artistic process of painting, drawing, writing, or other arts, serving as positive influences while the children find and improve themselves after their difficult experiences. Due to the pandemic, however, volunteers who wish to work directly with children must undergo their two-day training course over Zoom.

Free Arts LA volunteers taking a fun break while undergoing their online training course.

Free Arts LA offers several programs through its partners, namely an 8-week long Mentorship program, their Court program where children are encouraged to engage in arts to provide them with a safe space before appearing and testifying at the Edmund D. Edelman Children’s Courthouse, and Free Arts Day, a fun one-day event held across LA county that helps children have fun and builds their sense of community.

Art Swagger LA, an art and design fundraiser held annually, has partnered with Free Arts this year and all proceeds from the event will go directly to the organization, helping to further develop its programs. The fundraiser will include a virtual panel, a silent auction, and – if Covid-19 conditions improve – an in person event on September 30th, 2021.

For more information about Art Swagger 2021, click here: https://www.artswagger-la.com/ 

More about Free Arts for Abused Children:

Free Arts programs inspire hope in the lives of children from ages 5-18 who have experienced abuse, neglect, poverty and homelessness through innovative creative arts programs and positive interactions with caring adult volunteers. Free Arts LA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. 

For more information about Free Arts, click here: https://www.freearts.org/

AIDS Walk Los Angeles Reaches Halfway Mark of Fundraising

AIDS Walk Los Angeles Reaches Halfway Mark of Fundraising

Los Angeles, CA. AIDS Walk Los Angeles will observe the halfway mark of its fundraising on August 16. Recognized as one of the world’s first walks to take up the cause against HIV and AIDS, AWLA has raised nearly $90 million for APLA Health’s various programs that focus on care and advocacy for over 18,000 affected individuals in the Los Angeles County. Due to Covid-19, there is no official in-person walking event and most of the AIDS Walk will be held online, with three outdoor challenges that take place during checkpoint dates of the Walk.

To keep supporters motivated and updated on the progress of fundraising, The Walk Show began on July 7 – the same time as the AIDS Walk fundraising began. The show releases new episodes every week, with each week focusing on a particular location in Los Angeles County helped by the work of APLA Health. The Walk Show is hosted by popular drag queen Ongina who walks viewers through fundraising tips and fun challenges. A big highlight of the show is the weekly story of a patient from one of APLA Health’s programs or clinics. Episodes of The Walk Show can be found here: https://aidswalkla.org/the-walk-show/.

The Trans Connections program, featured in Episode 2 of The Walk Show.

For more information about AIDS Walk Los Angeles, click here: https://aidswalkla.org/

More about APLA Health:

“APLA Health was founded in 1983 as AIDS Project Los Angeles with the goal of ending the AIDS epidemic in Los Angeles County. Today, we provide services in four key areas: 1) primary medical care, dental, behavioral health and HIV specialty care, 2) Critical HIV Support Services, 3) HIV Prevention, and 4) Advocacy.” APLA Health & Wellness is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization doing business as APLA Health.

To learn more about APLA Health, click here: https://aplahealth.org/

15th Annual LA Skins Fest Offers Visability for Native American Filmmakers

15th Annual LA Skins Fest Offers Visability for Native American Filmmakers

Los Angeles, CA. The Barcid Foundation is a Native American non-profit organization dedicated to providing initiatives and opportunities for indigenous peoples within media, tech, and STEM. It’s calling for film submissions for its 15th annual Skins Fest that will be taking place in November. Alongside Comcast NBCUniversal and many other sponsors, Barcid oversees the yearly LA Skins Fest in celebration of Native American Heritage Month. The festival takes place November 16th – 21st, 2021 in Hollywood. It aims to showcase the rising talent in Native American filmmaking. 

Skins Fest Native Youth Filmmakers feature

At the 2018 LA Skins Fest, President and CEO of Barcid, Ian Skorodin, remarked on how Native American artists and cinema has grown with the festival: “We have seen Native Cinema grow into a genuine force with a voice that is finally being heard. Native filmmakers have been pushing creative limits and will have the acknowledgement they deserve.”

14th Annual LA Skins Fest.

Information about how to make a submission can be found on the Skins Fest website.

In addition to the LA Skins Fest, Barcid runs a host of other events and workshops to help foster Native American artists and help people grow their professional careers. Barcid Foundation’s goal is to use media as a tool for cultural, educational, technological and economic development to help the Native American community.

The Native Current: Multimedia Workshop introduces children ages 9-17 to new ways of thinking about the LA River through film.

About Barcid

The Barcid Foundation is a nonprofit tax-exempt 501c3 that oversees several Native American endeavors, including the LA SKINS FEST. Barcid was founded in 2004 to offer educational opportunities to Native American communities through multimedia programs. Barcid projects include the preservation of decaying library materials that pertain to Native American history, video production of PSAs for local Native American non-profits, and the LA SKINS FEST.

About LA Skins Fest

The prestigious Los Angeles Skins Fest ranks among the country’s best film festivals and is an annual gathering for film industry insiders, cinema enthusiasts, filmmakers, and critics. The LA Skins Fest is considered a major launching ground for Indian Country’s most talked about films. Founded in 2007, the Los Angeles Skins Fest, now presenting screenings in the historic TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, is a multi-day and multicultural event celebrating the art of film, TV and new media. The Los Angeles Skins Fest’s long-standing commitment is to join filmmakers and film connoisseurs together to experience great cinema. The exciting schedule consists of dozens of filmmakers presenting their newest works, special artist development programs, tributes to community leaders, special events, and remarkable films. Festival headquarters are in Los Angeles, CA.