The Hammer Museum raised $230,000 in support of its free Hammer Kids programs through the 15th Kids Art Museum Project (K.A.M.P.), held in the museum’s courtyard last weekend. More than 750 guests, most of them young children, spent the day at various art-making stations devised by working artists with kid skills in mind.
I brought my 8-year-old daughter, who particularly relished a station created by Sayre Gomez that allowed kiddos to airbrush their own designs onto white T-shirts. Another massive hit: a station by Paul Mpagi Sepuya featuring cameras on tripods pointed at mirrors. Children cut out magazine clippings and taped them to the mirrors, then took self-portraits with their designs. The results were printed out on high-quality paper. There were also clay stations, a kite-making booth and a weaving project, among others.
Henry Winkler read from his books “Detective Duck” and “Hank Zipzer” while the kids sat on black beanbags fidgeting, laughing and clapping. Chrissy Teigen also entertained kids with a Dr. Seuss book.
It would be tempting to call this the cutest art event ever, except that would trivialize the immensity of the participating children’s creativity, excitement and drive. Watching kids create art is a humbling and joyful experience — like peering into another realm filled with the wonder of first discovery and the knowledge that wet clay is a world unto itself.
To quote Don DeLillo from his 1985 novel, “White Noise”: “Make no mistake. I take these children seriously. It is not possible to see too much in them, to overindulge your casual gift for the study of character. It is all there, in full force, charged waves of identity and being. There are no amateurs in the world of children.”
I’m arts and culture writer Jessica Gelt. Ashley Lee and I have got you covered this week.
Best bets: On our radar this week
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Eldorado Ballroom
The three-night series, honoring the evolving expressions of experimental and transcendent live performances by Black artists, is curated by Solange Knowles for Saint Heron and is inspired by the historic Black music hall in her native neighborhood, Houston’s Third Ward. Thursday’s kickoff pays tribute to Black women composers in classical and opera music, showcasing works by Julia Perry, Patrice Rushen and Knowles herself, making her U.S. compositional debut with a piece that draws inspiration from gospel vocal arrangements and Black Southern marching bands. Saturday’s program celebrates funk, soul and jazz, with performances by Bilal, J*Davey and Liv.e; Sunday’s lineup highlights traditional and contemporary spiritual music, with a special tribute to jazz pianist, arranger and composer Mary Lou Williams. Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. laphil.com
London Philharmonic Orchestra
It’s the orchestra’s first West Coast visit with Edward Gardner as music director. “Two programs will feature radically different violin soloists,” wrote Times classical music critic Mark Swedin our Fall Arts Preview. On Thursday at the Soraya, “Eloquent young American violinist Randall Goosby turns to the nostalgically romantic American violin concerto by Samuel Barber written in 1939, just before World War II.” On Friday at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall and Saturday at the Granada Theatre, “The revelatory transgressive Moldovan violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja plays Shostakovich’s intensely Russian First Violin Concerto, written eight years later, just after the war. A new work by Tania León and Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony are on both programs.” Thursday, The Soraya, 18111 Nordhoff St., Northridge; Friday, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa; Saturday, 1214 State St, Santa Barbara. lpo.org.uk
‘Romeo & Juliet Suite’
Choreographer Benjamin Millepied, co-founder and artistic director of the contemporary ballet company L.A. Dance Project, presents an innovative, modern-day take on Prokofiev’s masterpiece “Romeo & Juliet.” Each presentation of Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers features a different cast of LAPD dancers mixing genders and roles, and unfolds both onstage and onscreen, as cameras follow the performers throughout the theater and backstage, broadcasting to the audience in real time. Four performances run Thursday through Saturday. The Wallis, 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills. thewallis.org
— Ashley Lee
The week ahead: A curated calendar
MONDAY
The National/The War on Drugs The two bands hit town on the Zen Diagram Tour with opener Lucius.
6:30 p.m. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave., Los Angeles. hollywoodbowl.com
Tom Jones The versatile baritone knight belts out the hits and covers from his six-decade career.
8 p.m. Greek Theatre. 2700 N. Vermont Ave. lagreektheatre.com
TUESDAY
Tegan and Sara The Canadian indie duo dish on their new graphic novel, “Crush,” and all things junior high in conversation with moderator Jen Wang.
6 p.m. The Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever, 5970 Santa Monica Blvd. hollywoodforever.com
WEDNESDAY
“The Life and Music of George Michael” A concert-style show uses the Grammy-winning singer’s catalog of hits to chart his career from Wham! to solo success.
7:30 p.m. Bank of America Performing Arts Center, 2100 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks. americantheatreguild.com
THURSDAY
“A Girl Grows Wings” Developed and devised by Organización Secreta Teatro, the piece melds drama, dance, music and multimedia to tell the story of a young woman who learns of her undocumented status and ventures to reconnect her fractured cultural identity.
Through Oct. 20. Los Angeles Theatre Center, 514 S. Spring St., downtown L.A. latinotheaterco.org
“I, Daniel Blake” JD Cullum stars in this stage version of Ken Loach’s 2016 film about a widowed carpenter from Newcastle, England, navigating state bureaucratic systems that seem utterly indifferent to his welfare.
Through Nov. 24. Fountain Theatre, 5060 Fountain Ave. fountaintheatre.com
Sleepwalkr 2.0 An audio-driven futuristic sci-fi experience set in 2044 Los Angeles that allows you to view and hear the dreams of others.
Shows begin every hour, 6-10 p.m. Thursday-Sunday and Oct. 17-20. 1258 W. 2nd St. sleepwalkr.org
Culture news and the SoCal scene
The daytime fireworks display that served as the kickoff event for the Getty’s PST ART festival went awry, with debris falling on the crowd, injuring at least two people. An investigation has been opened by the state fire marshal (protocol in the event of injury), but little is known about what may have gone wrong at the explosion event titled “We Are.” The artist who envisioned it, Cai Guo-Qiang, spoke to The Times about what may have happened.
Ken Page, a baritone who starred in Broadway’s “Cats” and “The Wiz” and who voiced Oogie Boogie in the film “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” has died. He was 70. Times staff writer Nardine Saad penned his obituary.
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Devo frontman Mark Mothersbaugh and artist Beatie Wolfe have relaunched their Postcards for Democracy campaign ahead of the 2024 presidential election, in partnership with the Broad Foundation. The first iteration of the project appeared prior to the 2020 election at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The nonpartisan, collective art campaign is intended to mobilize Americans to vote while supporting the U.S. Postal Service. To participate, design your own postcard and send it to 8760 Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood 90069, using either a 56-cent postcard stamp or a 73-cent stamp for 1-ounce letters. The postcards will be added to an ever-growing art installation by Mothersbaugh and Wolfe. An exhibition and a book are planned for after the election.
Attention “Evil” and “The Office” fans, the full cast has been announced for Geffen Playhouse’s upcoming production of Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot,” and the show’s stars include Aasif Mandvi as Estragon and Rainn Wilson as Vladimir.
And last but not least
It’s been one week since the world lost the great singer-songwriter Kris Kristofferson. I was a huge fan of his music, which got me through some of my worst heartbreaks over the years. (Country music will do that — make your sadness feel tolerable with the weight of its own sadness.) Here’s a song I will never get enough of.