The Music Center Announces Grand Park's 2017 'Our L.A. Voices' Series

The Music Center today announced Grand Park's spring programming -- Grand Park's Our L.A. Voices -- designed to highlight the voices of Angelenos through various mediums and artistic genres. Celebrating the artist within each individual, Grand Park's spring event line-up includes performances by L.A. artists and provides platforms for communities to gather and share stories about life experiences and the common threads that unite the County.

The season's highlights include lunchtime concerts featuring performances by young artists from the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, Grand Park's Downtown Bookfest and Portals Project at Grand Park, among many other events and activities.

"Grand Park offers Angelenos many opportunities to celebrate the richness of our community and the diversity of Los Angeles County by inviting people to gather, share their individual stories and learn more about their neighbors," said Rachel Moore, president and CEO of The Music Center. "The park's spring line-up includes programs that highlight what makes each of us unique and ways to experience how the arts can unify us all."

Lucas Rivera, vice president of Grand Park, offered, "This spring we are excited to provide programs in Grand Park that are inspired by the many voices that make Los Angeles great. Whether they are hearing stories of what motivates a student performer, listening to the poetry of Emily Dickinson, or sharing their similarities and differences with others who are far away, Angelenos will uncover the common bonds that bring neighbors together and unite communities."

Grand Park's spring programming line-up includes:

Grand Park's LUNCHTIME! Concerts

Thursdays, March 2 - May 25; 12:15 p.m. - 1:15 p.m.

Young artists from the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts perform in free concerts, including classical, jazz, pop, musical theatre and dance.

Grand Park's LUNCHTINE! Writers' Workshops

Tuesdays, March 7 - May 30; 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Led by Los Angeles-based poet, educator and artist, Traci Kato Kiryama, Grand Park presents a facilitated hour of creative writing exercise for L.A. authors, playwrights, screenwriters, poets and scribblers of all writing talent and experience. Participants will be guided by prompts and exercises drawing on current events in L.A. and beyond and are encouraged to bring projects of their own to work on and share with the group.

Grand Park's Downtown Bookfest

Saturday, March 11; 12:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

In collaboration with the City of Los Angeles' annual Big Read Festival honoring the poetry of Emily Dickinson, Grand Park hosts a family celebration of the power of words. With more than 20 community partners, including 826LA and Red Hen Press, artists and audiences will create and enjoy literary activities, poetry readings, spoken word performances and more. The day features family-friendly performances, readings by L.A. poets and spoken-word artists, a teen poetry workshop and a collective poem written by the audience about Los Angeles.

Grand Park's PROUD Story Slam

Saturday, March 25; 12:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

The fifth event in Grand Park's ongoing PROUD series, PROUD Story Slam invites the Los Angeles LGBTQ and ally community to celebrate and connect with each other through stories that unite. Storytellers and performance artists from across Los Angeles will share tales about how the LGBTQ and ally community relate to Los Angeles, and how Los Angeles relates to them across geography, generation, gender, race and background.

Portals Project at Grand Park

April 10-23; (Daily hours TBD)

Grand Park will host a two-week long chat with the world. Audiences can sign up for an appointment to speak with someone around the world about life, food, family, the weather or any other topic they want to discuss with the opportunity to gain a new perspective on other communities far away. The portals are gold shipping containers equipped inside with immersive audio and video technology. Individuals can meet face-to-face with someone in a distant portal and have real-time conversations as if he or she were in the same room. Each portal is staffed by a Portal Curator who provides translation as needed. Grand Park's Writers' Workshops and Lunchtime Concerts will be "broadcast" during this timeframe so that participants in other portal locations can enjoy these events from afar. www.sharedstudios.com/portals

Returning Grand Park Favorites:

Grand Park's LUNCHTIME! Food Trucks

Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays; 11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Lunch trucks on Olive Court (between Grand Avenue and Hill Street) & the Marketplace (between Spring Street and Broadway)
With more than 45,000 lunches sold in the park just last year, Grand Park continues its tradition of lunchtime in the park by providing downtowners and park visitors with a wide variety of food trucks, three days per week. Trucks are parked in two locations in the park: on Olive Court, between Grand Avenue and Hill Street, and in the Marketplace, between Broadway and Spring Street.

Grand Park's LUNCHTIME! Yoga reTREAT

Wednesdays and Fridays, November 2, 2016-May 31, 2017; 12:15p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Grand Park's popular yoga sessions return, giving participants the opportunity to relax, rejuvenate and re-energize.

Earth Day LA

April 19, 2017; 9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Grand Park joins The Music Center and the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power to celebrate Earth Day and offer Downtown L.A.'s residents, workers and visitors ideas and solutions on how to live clean and go green. Attendees will discover energy efficiency and water conservation displays; sustainable gardening tours; composting, electric and solar vehicle demonstrations; tree giveaways; recycled art projects; E-waste drop-off; fitness and yoga classes; and the opportunity to eat lunch and enjoy a walk-through of Grand Park's sustainable landscaping.

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For more information about free spring programming at Grand Park, visit grandparkla.org. Follow Grand Park on Facebook (GrandParkLosAngeles), as well as Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat (@GrandPark_LA).

A vibrant outdoor gathering place, Grand Park is a beautiful public park for the entire community in Los Angeles County. With expansive green space for gatherings large and small, Grand Park celebrates the county's cultural vitality and is host to community events, cultural experiences, holiday celebrations, and many other activities that engage and attract visitors from all communities. The 12-acre Grand Park stretches from The Music Center on the west to City Hall on the east and is easily accessible by Metro via the Red/Purple line to the Civic Center/Grand Park station. The park was named one of American Planning Association's 10 "Great Public Spaces" in the U.S. for 2013. Working closely with the county, The Music Center is responsible for all operations and programming for the park. For more information, visit grandparkla.org Follow Grand Park on Facebook (GrandParkLosAngeles), as well as Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat (@GrandPark_LA).

As L.A.'s performing arts destination, The Music Center is L.A.'s home to the world's greatest artistic programs and events. With four iconic theaters and four renowned resident companies - Center Theatre Group, the LA Master Chorale, the LA Opera and the LA Philharmonic - and recognized for its illustrious dance programming, Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center, The Music Center is a destination where audiences find inspiration in the very best of live performance, as well as nationally recognized arts education and participatory arts experiences. The Music Center also programs and manages Grand Park, a 12-acre adjacent greenspace, with year-round free programming. For more information, visit musiccenter.org

Follow The Music Center on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat (@MusicCenterLA).

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