DCA Arts and Cultural Calendar
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September 2018
Social Media Discussion of The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears
DCA will invite readers to join the Big Read online community to discuss Dinaw Mengestu’s book, The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears. Hosted through DCA’s Big Read Program in Los Angeles website, participants will receive a free copy of the book and notices of program events. Through this online portal, readers will exchange postings (to be monitored by DCA), and discuss NEA-provided study guide questions, while also reading and sharing articles related to topics touched upon in the book, such…
February 2019
Mapping Los Angeles Cuisine and Culture: #LookingAtMyLosAngeles
The Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) invites you to participate in this food appreciation project that chronicles our City’s history, by using the Story Map Tour app. The book’s themes of memory, home, cultural identity, and displacement are the inspiration for this food mapping project. Help us map what and where Angelenos eat. Nominate your favorite eateries, whether it’s a market that has stood for generations, a hundred-year-old bakery, or a particular street where people emigrated from other lands gather…
March 2019
Community Reading and Book Giveaway
Angelenos are invited to stop by Libros Schmibros, a membership lending library, for a free copy of this year’s NEA Big Read title, The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears, by Dinaw Megestu. Libros Schmibros Lending Library seeks to foster the literary and cultural life of Boyle Heights, a once majority-Jewish, now majority-Latino, neighborhood of Los Angeles. Founded in 2010, Libros Schmibros offers low- or no-cost literature and literary events to everybody east of the ocean. Working with local residents, artists,…
April 2019
Printmaking, Bookmaking, and Writing Workshop: LAMAGPlay Museum Education Program
The Museum Education Program LAMAGPlay will present a printmaking, bookmaking, and writing inspired by Dinaw Mengestu’s book, The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears. In this three-station workshop, attendees will participate in a writing exercise, create the 8-fold book to incorporate their writing content from the first station, and make a Styrofoam relief print for their book cover. Participants can focus on just one station or complete the three components of this activity based on their interests or time. The…
Exhibiting Black Art in 1970s Los Angeles
Join us for an afternoon conversation, co-presented with LACMA, featuring Suzanne Jackson (artist and founder of Gallery 32), Dale Davis (artist and co-founder of the influential Leimert Park-based Brockman Gallery), and Ian White (artist and son of Charles White), moderated by Sarah Loyer (curator of The Broad’s presentation of Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power 1963-1983). Learn about their experiences and work promoting African American artists who are currently on view at The Broad and…
June 2019
Animated Film Screening: Sony Pictures CalArts CAP Media Arts Program
A curated selection of animated shorts created by students of the Sony Pictures Media Arts Program. The films are inspired by the writing of Dinaw Mengestu, this year’s NEA Big Read featured author. The screening of these animated short films is the culmination of the program. The films created by middle and high school students who participate in the year-round Sony Pictures Media Arts Program at Banning’s Landing Community Center in Wilmington, Center for the Arts Eagle Rock, Pacoima Public…