Sixth Annual Grand Park + The Music Center's N.Y.E.L.A To Celebrate The Future Of Los Angeles With LA Dreams

Los Angeles will once again ring in the new year in spectacular fashion and with great hope for 2019 as Angelenos join together with friends and family at the sixth annual Grand Park + The Music Center's N.Y.E.L.A., from Monday, December 31, 2018, at 8:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. on New Year's Day.

The West coast's flagship New Year's Eve event will feature the theme LA DREAMS, a celebration that imagines the future of Los Angeles County through the collective thoughtfulness and creativity of its children. Attendees will enjoy the work of Los Angeles County 5th graders who were asked to conceptualize the best of what Los Angeles can become, expressing their ideas in essays, drawings, video or poetry. More than 70 drawings, 60 essays and 10 poems inspired the highly popular 3-D animated countdown to midnight, which has become a signature element of the event.

A unique civic celebration, Grand Park + The Music Center's N.Y.E.L.A, is recognized internationally alongside major New Year's Eve celebrations and is Los Angeles' go-to, family-friendly gathering place where Southern Californians and visitors from across the globe will celebrate and welcome 2019. The party will cover 90 acres, from Grand Avenue to City Hall (Spring Street) and from Temple Street to 2nd Street. More than 50,000 people are expected to attend.

"Since 2012, each New Year's Eve celebration at Grand Park has been a special and celebratory occasion for reflection and renewal," said Rachel Moore, president and CEO of The Music Center. "This year's event will be especially significant as the words and artwork of L.A.'s 5th graders come together in a glorious display that will inspire us to imagine an even brighter future for Los Angeles."

The evening will include Grand Park + The Music Center's N.Y.E.L.A. 3-D digital countdown on the west-facing side of City Hall, an extraordinary show that will entertain and enlighten, while sharing poignant and hopeful messages based on the students' wishes and dreams. The students focused on reducing pollution, providing homes for everyone and creating healthy environments where all Angelenos can thrive. Grand Park worked with The Music Center's Education team to select five schools whose 5th grade students were asked to submit their visions of their dreams for L.A. The assignment combined critical thinking and analysis of local government, while helping the students apply artistic skills to communicate the intent and meaning of their works of art. The New Year's countdown to midnight will feature art and imagery inspired by these dreams, while the actual essays, poems and drawings will be projected onto the south wall of the County Hall of Records throughout the event. The countdown and projections will be created and designed by Garson Yu, artistic director, and his Emmy award-winning design agency yU+co. Following the event, the student entries will also be included on Grand Park's website.

Guests will experience a wide variety of musical performances throughout the evening on two stages. L.A. native rapper/singer/songwriter Aloe Blacc will headline the "Countdown Stage" with "the Chicana from down under," Maya Jupiter, who will share her blend of Latin-American rhythms and Hip-Hop. Jazz, Soul and Hip-Hop vocalist Georgia Anne Muldrow will open the evening and Dominican singer Irka Mateo will light up the stage with her boundary-breaking fusion of Afro Caribbean Dominican music, while DJ Day, who is respected in the L.A. music scene for his eclectic and diverse sets, will keep the crowd grooving. Commanding the "Get Down Stage" will be an all-female lineup of DJs featuring the soulful sounds of Los Angeles-based Spiñorita, the globe-trotting and ever versatile Ericalandia, and the "fierce and unforgettable" Kronika.

"With a stellar artist line-up that features a genre-blending mosaic of homegrown and global sounds, alongside the vibrant visual projections that showcase the vision of Los Angeles' 5th graders, Grand Park + The Music Center's N.Y.E.L.A. will offer Angelenos a memorable and meaningful way to usher in the new year," said Julia Diamond, Grand Park's interim director. "This will be an incredible experience and opportunity to celebrate the soul of L.A. County."

For more information about Grand Park + The Music Center's N.Y.E.L.A., visit grandparkla.org/nyela or musiccenter.org/nyela

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