Grand Avenue Arts: All Access, downtown Los Angeles’ premier arts and culture celebration, is returning for its eighth year on Oct. 19 and is once again free. The one-day festival invites Angelenos of all ages to craft their own arts adventures while exploring downtown’s cultural corridor to the max. Indeed, this one-mile stretch of the city hosts some of L.A.’s most iconic cultural institutions, which join forces for this daylong open house, providing an array of performances, educational workshops, and arts activities for everyone.
“We started small,” explained Rachel Moore, president and CEO of The Music Center, one of Grand Avenue’s major residents. “But it was always [the late philanthropist] Eli Broad’s vision to have a cultural corridor, and we really felt like [this event] was an opportunity to connect arts organizations to uplift Grand Avenue. It was paused during COVID, but it’s back in full and keeps expanding each year.”
There are 15 organizations participating in All Access this year, including the Colburn School, which is offering an instrument petting zoo, where participants can try out different instruments and receive expert advice on getting started in music. Colburn is also hosting an open sing, with choir director Adrian Dunn leading exactly that — a workshop for vocalists of all ages.
More singing is set to take place on California Plaza with “Voices in Harmony,” a showcase for several community choirs that culminates in a performance by the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles. Music and magic also meet in front of the Omni Hotel when Harmonies by LeMonde Studio — a series of interactive musical instruments, including a violin, a harp, and a guitar-turned-slide — harness the power of human energy to create intriguing soundscapes.
For opera lovers, Los Angeles Opera is presenting recitals by the company’s young artists inside the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, with opera-themed crafts and activities taking place outside.
The Los Angeles Philharmonic is offering a number of activities, including “Fun With Foley! Creating Sound Effects With Everyday Items.” This event, in BP Hall at Walt Disney Concert Hall, features Foley artist Alyson Dee Moore creating classic sound effects, such as crunchy snow or a squeaky hinge. For those interested in making an instrument, the LA Phil has a craft table for that in the Disney Hall garden. One can also learn about the golden age of Mexican and Hollywood cinema in a lecture at BP Hall or listen to a performance featuring Youth Orchestra Los Angeles alumni and teaching artists in Keck Amphitheatre.
“We’ll also have Día de los Muertos in Gloria Molina Grand Park,” enthused Moore, “with a bunch of altars. Some are done by professional artists, some done by the community. At Jerry Moss Plaza, there will be a lot going on — a marketplace, workshops, and people can meet the singers from the Los Angeles Master Chorale. And at the Central Library, you can decorate sugar skulls.”
Also at the library, “Latino Poetry: Places We Call Home” celebrates a new Library of America anthology, with poets sharing their work alongside musical performances curated by singer-songwriter Ceci Bastida.
For newbies to downtown, tours of The Music Center are being offered, including at REDCAT (the Roy and Edna Disney CalArts Theater), where two curators guide attendees through the theater’s current art exhibition, All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace.
In addition, there’s art-making on the schedule at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), where participants are invited to create cutouts inspired by native California plants and add them to a “communal growing garden” on the museum’s plaza. MOCA is also offering “Sustainable Skillbuilding: Pottery Remix,” a workshop that teaches creative reuse, rerouting cycles of consumerism and questioning our relationship to waste. BYOP (bring your own pottery) or use the pottery shards provided.
As for Moore, she plans to spend the day “wandering up and down. I like to see what’s going on and chitchat with folks. It’s a lovely vibe for people, and I’m always amazed it’s not just families that come but millennials and Gen Xers, too.
“L.A. gets a bum rap in terms of the [fine arts] offerings it has,” added Moore. “It drives me bananas, so this is one of the many things we can do to uplift the arts in our community. And it’s high-quality stuff. People forget how many cultural institutions there are downtown — and within walking distance. It’s also a lot easier to traverse all these activities than people assume.
“My dream,” said Moore wistfully, “is when we get to the Olympics [in Los Angeles in 2028], the world will see how much art is happening here — and the diversity of the art that’s happening here.”
