Broad’s milestone and 12 others refresh, expand, or open
If there was ever any doubt that the Los Angeles area was an important center for arts and culture, there is no denying it now. There has been exponential growth in our corner of the museum world recently, and most will be ready to dazzle on the world stage in time for the Olympic and Paralympic games in 2028. In total, at least 13 museums and cultural institutions are refreshing, expanding, or newly opening, with the most recent milestone being The Broad’s Topping Off ceremony in May, which celebrated the dedication and skill of their construction team by lifting into place the final steel beam of the structural framework of a new 50,000-square-foot addition to the downtown L.A. contemporary art museum. Guests and speakers were invited to sign the beam before a giant crane lifted it above the rooftops and steelworkers secured it in place. (Meaning the Larchmont Chronicle is now immortalized on the beam by this journalist!)
STEELWORKERS Kristian Garcia (left) and Brett Temple.
Photo by Shafik Fadi courtesy of The Broad
Broad Founding Director and President Joanne Heyler’s opening remarks recounted that The Broad has welcomed 7.3 million visitors in its 10-year existence. She noted that the new addition will add much-needed live performance space and allow museum visitors to enter The Broad’s storage vault to engage with the art. Elizabeth Diller, partner at Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the original and current architects, emphasized that the accessible art vault, “is a feature as bold as the art inside.” Also speaking were Steve Matt chairman of MATT Construction; Councilmember Ysabel Jurado; and of East West Bank Foundation President Travis Kiyota, who reinforced the notion that art inspires lives.
Co-Founder of the Broad, Edythe Broad, proudly signed the topping off beam to mark the museum’s next phase. She commented, “This expansion will open the collection to even more people, in new and unexpected ways, than we ever thought possible.”
The Broad will remain open during construction, including presenting an important survey work from the visionary artist and activist Yoko Ono. “Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind” runs from Sat., May 23, to Sun., Oct. 11. For tickets, go to thebroad.org.
MUSEUM expansion workers take a moment to pose with Broad President Joanna Heyler.
Photo by Owen Kolasinski courtesy of The Broad
An explosion of art & culture
Arguably the most significant recent cultural moment in the L.A. art world was the May 6 public opening of LACMA’s long-anticipated David Geffen Galleries.
AT THE CEREMONY (back row, from left) Travis Kiyota, president, East West Bank Foundation; The Broad Founding Director and President Joanne Heyler; Elizabeth Diller, Partner, architectural firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro; MATT Construction Chairman Steve Matt; and (front row) Co-Founder Edythe Broad.
Photo by Jojo Korsh courtesy of The Broad
The Peter Zumthor design sweeps across Wilshire Boulevard, offering unparallelled views of its Miracle Mile neighborhood, and presents art in a new and egalitarian light. The relandscaped Norton Simon Museum’s public opening was also May 6, which unveiled their achievement in preserving the 115,000 original Heath tiles cladding the building. The Holocaust Museum LA will reopen June 14, as part of the new Goldrich Cultural Center, with expanded educational and exhibit space. DATALAND, the first known AI-driven art museum, is scheduled to open June Sat., 20, in The Grand Hotel downtown. The Japanese American National Museum will reopen in late 2026 with a new interactive permanent exhibit and renovated entrance. The La Brea Tar Pits and Museum will very soon close Mon., July 6, for an extensive renovation that will add a research facility and increased capacity for housing more than 2 million Ice Age fossils, to be completed before the LA28 Games. The Frank Gehry-designed Colburn Center, an expanded performance space for the Colburn School, is scheduled to open to the public in the fall of 2027. The Wende Museum, dedicated to presenting and preserving Cold War-era historical artifacts, opened the Glorya Kaufman Community Center last September and will unveil the interactive Wende Institute for Archival Research in Hawthorne in spring 2028. Anyone who has visited Exposition Park recently has seen George Lucas’ “spaceship” taking shape across from the Natural History Museum. The 300,000 square-foot Lucas Museum of Narrative Art opens Tue., Sept. 22. The Samuel Oschin Air & Space Center at the California Science Center, which houses the Endeavor Space Shuttle and myriad air and space displays, is expected to be fully outfitted before the Olympics begin. The Getty Center will close for one year for a refresh, beginning in the spring of 2027, reopening in time for Olympics visitors. In spring 2026, The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens began construction on a $127 million, 83,000-square-foot project with expanded conservation facilities and a dedicated History of Science Gallery. Residential units for visiting humanities research fellows are also being constructed, all opening spring 2029.
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