The Music Center Announces New FOR THE LOVE OF L.A. Artists

The Music Center's digital series, For the Love of L.A., celebrates the creativity of Los Angeles and supports L.A.-based artists representing the disciplines of music, dance, visual culture and more. For the Love of L.A. is providing 35 L.A. artists with a platform to express their views of Los Angeles that are relevant and reflective of the current time through video (e.g., documentation of a dance or music performance), photography (e.g., art photography, photo essay or documentation of another visual artform) and creative writing. The new art is featured each week on both The Music Center's social channels and The Music Center Offstage, the organization's virtual platform offering newly curated programming including the commission and presentation of original artwork.

The Music Center partnered with long-time collaborators from the L.A. arts and culture community to serve as guest curators, who each identified local artists and then worked with them to create original work for the program. For the Love of L.A.'s next group of guest curator collaborations include Jennelyn Tumalad (arts program producer); Jason Arimoto and Patrice Oyama (U-Space co-founders); Winona Bechtle (director of development and community partnerships for the Bob Baker Marionette Theater); Pierre Davis (founder and lead designer for fashion house No Sesso); Leeav Sofer (Artistic Director and co-founder of the Urban Voices Project, and Mostly Kosher frontman); and Jeri Gaile (The Music Center's Spotlight program director).

Beginning Tuesday, October 6, 2020, The Music Center will premiere artwork from additional artists newly named For the Love of L.A. program: photographer Valerie Bower created a Zine entitled "Mahalaga Tayo" ("We are Essential" in Tagalog) to narrate the hero stories of Filipino/a frontline workers battling the COVID-19 pandemic in the food and healthcare industries; graphic artist Christine Hipolito developed "Desire," a downloadable card set with aphorisms and artwork encouraging viewers to self-reflect on the concepts of holding, dream and joy; and multi-disciplinary artist Anna Luisa Petrisko's "Ulit, Ulit" ("Again, Again" in Tagalog) pays homage to her Pinoy culture with a karaoke disco experience featuring lyrics co-written with her mother. Additional works will premiere from puppeteers Audrey Densmore and Almighty Opp; theater organist Edward Torres; and from two of The Music Center 's Spotlight finalists: tap dance champion Maya Alvarez Coyne, and singer/DJ Teira Church, among others.

Since Tuesday, August 11, 2020, For the Love of L.A. has profiled new works by photographer Rafael Cardenas; visual artist Yaneli Delgado; painter Manuel López; photographer Stephanie Mei-Ling; artist Amani Holbert; sculptor Dominque Moody; musical performances by Ethiopian musicians Kibrom Birhane and Etsegenet Mekonnen; DJ/musician/composer Mark de Clive-Lowe, and Brazilian jazz vocalist Thalma de Freitas; musical performance and visual art collaborations from: San Cha and Maria Maea; Daniel T. Gaitor-Lomack and AKUA; Neil Frances, Emmy Pickett and Harrison Schaaf; Lee Anne Schmitt and Jeff Parker; and Peter J. Harris, Artyom Manukyan and Jesse Gilbert; and dance premieres from Pacifico Dance Company; Versa-Style Dance Company; Syncopated Ladies; Rangoli Dance Company; L.A. FUSION Dance Theater; and JazzAntiqua.

Previous guest curators have included, Marvella Muro (director of programs for Self Help Graphics & Art); Ed Barguiarena (musician/composer/producer); Raélle Dorfan (executive director, Dance Resource Center); Karen Mack (founder/executive director, LA Commons); Lottie Rippon (events and special projects, DUBLAB) in collaboration with Max Rippon and Kate Emery (co-founders, Quarantine Gallery); and Dexter Story (multi-instrumentalist/composer/ producer).

The Music Center will post new works of art on The Music Center's Instagram every Tuesday through February 9, 2021; no art will premiere on Election Day (November 3, 2020) or during the Holiday weeks (November 24, 2020, December 22, 2020, or December 29, 2020). The public can get a closer look at each artist through biographies and statements alongside the complete version of the artwork in a digital library on The Music Center Offstage. In addition, the initiative also aims to inspire the public to engage and participate directly by contributing their own For the Love of L.A. creative endeavors and projects; some audience-generated content has been selected and shared in the arts organization's social channels.

*All artists are subject to change.

WHERE:

Instagram (@MusicCenterLA)

The Music Center Offstage

WHEN:

Tuesdays, August 11, 2020-February 9, 2021

Note: No premieres on Election Day, November 3, 2020, or the Holiday weeks: November 24, 2020, December 22, 2020 and December 29, 2020.

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