CAP UCLA Presents New Words & Ideas Series L.A. OMNIBUS

This season the Words & Ideas program from UCLA's Center for the Art of Performance introduces L.A. Omnibus, a series featuring Los Angeles-based artists, writers and thinkers. Each one will examine a specific topic starting with A Conversation About Art, Activism and the Performance of Power. Tickets are free with RSVP here.

Deriving inspiration from the Latin meaning of omnibus - for all - the series explores how the vibrant city of Los Angeles continuously remakes itself. L.A. is not only about where people live, it is about how people live - the symbolism of the palm tree, the billboard, the drive-through, the ocean. The landscape of L.A., sculpted by individual perspectives, is a multifaceted, dynamic community - a place for everyone. Details on upcoming programs follow below.

L.A. Omnibus: A Conversation About Art, Activism and the Performance of Power with art-makers Constance Hockaday, Daniel Alexander Jones and Kristina Wong

Thu, September 17, 2020 at 7 p.m.

These three artists make performance and multi-disciplinary artworks that explore political voice, shared space, disruption and belonging. In this moment of cultural and political crisis, three artists that defy easy categorization share their thoughts on how communities can engage in some radical imagination to create a new future.

L.A. Omnibus: In Conversation with Donna Rifkind

Thu, October 8, 2020 at 7 p.m.

Between the wars, hundreds of German and Eastern European artists fled fascism and landed in Los Angeles - many to find refuge at the home of another émigré, screenwriter and activist Salka Viertel. Literary critic Donna Rifkind will discuss her biography of Viertel: The Sun and Her Stars: Salka Viertel and Hitler's Exiles in the Golden Age of Hollywood. Donna's research for the book spanned 10 years and multiple continents, where she uncovered the often-hidden stories of the artistic and intellectual refugees who influenced the Hollywood of the 1930s.

L.A. Omnibus: In Conversation with Lynell George

Tue, December 8, 2020 at 7 p.m.

Lynell George has been observing and writing about Los Angeles her entire life, as a reporter for The Los Angeles Times and KCET, and in her books: No Crystal Stair: African Americans in the City of Angels, and After/Image: Los Angeles Outside the Frame. She will share her insights and talk about her new book, A Handful of Earth, A Handful of Sky: The World That Made Octavia E. Butler. CAP UCLA audiences will remember Toshi Reagon's Parable Of The Sower, based on Octavia Butler's novel of the same name, which was the final live performance of the 2019-20 Season prior to COVID-19 gathering restrictions.

L.A. Omnibus: A Musical and Poetic Conversation about Unity and Belonging with

Omar Offendum

TBA Early 2021

Omar Offendum is a Syrian-American rapper/spoken word artist and musician, well known for his signature blend of hip-hop and Arabic poetry. Offendum was recently named a Kennedy Center Citizen Artist Fellow, as well as a member of both the Pillars Fund cohort for Muslim narrative change and the RaceForward Butterfly Lab cohort for immigrant narrative strategy.

Funds for L.A. Omnibus are provided in part by the Arthur E. Guedel Memorial Lectureship Fund and the Sally & William A. Rutter Endowment for the Performing Arts.

To post a comment, you must register and login.