Today, nearly half the population of Los Angeles has roots in Latin America. Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA is a far-reaching and ambitious exploration of Latin American and Latino art in dialogue with Los Angeles which was founded in 1781 as part of New Spain.

Taking place from September 2017 until January 2018 at more than 70 cultural institutions across Southern California from Los Angeles to San Diego and Santa Barbara, this new collaboration takes a fresh look at vital and vibrant traditions in Latino and Latin American art through a series of thematically linked exhibitions.

This wide ranging exploration will take visitors on a journey from the famed Getty and LACMA museums to smaller museums, university galleries and performing arts centers.  Museums not thought of as featuring Latin American Art, such as the Japanese American National Museum, and the African American Museum will present surprising and interesting connections to Latin America.

This multifaceted cultural event will transform Los Angeles and Southern California for five months offering an introduction to the original and varied heritage of Latin America in Southern California.

For more information and a complete list of exhibitions, click here.

Enter the fantasy world of Marc Chagall through a heavy red velvet curtain, and immerse yourself in a world of classical music, dance and extraordinarily creative and beautiful costumes.  It’s a world inhabited by whimsical highly imaginative animals and mannequins dressed in a combination of diaphanous and heavy, richly colored fabrics, collage-like appliqués, and intricate embroidery.

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is presenting Chagall: Fantasies for the Stage, is the first U.S. exhibition to spotlight the principal role that music and dance played in Chagall’s artistic career.  Concentrating on four theatrical productions created over a quarter century, the exhibition comprises 145 objects, including 41 vibrant costumes; nearly 100 preparatory sketches; rare 1942 film footage of the original performance of Aleko; musical accompaniments for each section; and a selection of paintings depicting musicians and theatrical scenes. Like his paintings Chagall’s theater work draws on folklore and poetry of his native Russia. He worked closely Ballet de l’Opéra de Paris dancers to harmonize his costumes with their movements and gestures. His designs incorporated shimmering layered appliqués on sheer fabric, and he painted bold swaths of color onto the costumes while the dancers were wearing them in order to emphasize the fluid lines and dynamism of the dance.

“Chagall: Fantasies for the Stage” will be on display at LACMA through January 7, 2018.

Latino Art Lovers rejoice! The latest edition of the Getty’s Pacific Standard Time initiative, entitled LA/LA, arrives this month through January at more than 60 cultural institutions across Southern California in a far-reaching and ambitious exploration of Latin American and Latino art in dialogue with Los Angeles.

The Skirball Cultural Center gets in on LA/LA with a perspective on the visual culture of Mexico and its relationship to the US as seen through the life and work of  Mexican-born, American Jewish writer Anita Brenner in Another Promised Land: Anita Brenner’s Mexico, September 14th-February 25th. Brenner (1905–1974) was an integral part of the circle of Mexican modernists in the 1920s and contributed enormously toward promoting and translating Mexican art, culture and history to American audiences.

Brenner was close to the leading intellectuals and artists active in Mexico at that time, including José Clemente Orozco, Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros. With many significant artworks on loan from both Mexican and American collections and institutions, Abraham Angel’s stunning La India promises to be one of the exhibition’s showstoppers. The Skirball’s exhibition will provide an immersive experience of historic discovery, including a re-creation of one of Brenner’s favorite Mexico City haunts, Sanborns’ Casa de los Azulejos.

For more details, click here.

The term “genius” is tossed around a lot these days, but there are a few worthy designations. The 18th century composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was an indisputable genius. Amadeus, the Oscar-winning biopic of his life, is a work of cinematic genius. Miloš Forman’s sumptuous film, the winner of eight Academy Awards including Best Picture of 1984, explores the very nature of extraordinary talent through the highly fictionalized rivalry between the titular child prodigy (Tom Hulce) and Antonio Salieri (F. Murray Abraham), an Italian contemporary composer driven insane by his jealousy of Mozart’s mad musical gifts. The smart screenplay is adapted by Peter Shaffer from his Tony Award-winning play.

Amadeus will keep brilliant company when the picture is screened at Valley Performing Arts Center (VPAC) on Saturday, September 16 at 7:00pm as Amadeus Live, featuring the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO) and LA Opera Chorus, conducted by film music specialist and CSUN alum Richard Kaufman, to a newly mastered print created for live orchestral accompaniment. This very special event kicks off VPAC’s 2017-2018 Season and honors the Younes and Soraya Nazarian Family Foundation in recognition of the family’s recent, jaw-dropping $17 million gift that will rename VPAC as the Younes and Soraya Nazarian Performing Arts Center, or The Soraya. Amadeus Live is sold-out, but you can get on the waiting list for tickets by calling (818) 677-3000.

For all things happening at VPAC, click here.