The Getty Museum is coming to North Long Beach for a festival this summer that is part of its 25th-anniversary celebration. Celebrate Long Beach is one of 10 festivals happening around the Los Angeles area.
The museum will collaborate with the Long Beach Creative Coalition which involves Studio One Eleven, Intertrend, and Creative Class Collective.
The director of CSULB’s Carolyn Campagna Kleefield Contemporary Art Museum, Paul Baker Prindle, has a seat on the advisory committee.
“My job along with others is really to help the festival planners better understand how to celebrate Long Beach,” Baker Prindle said. “How that plays out is the Getty is asking for recommendations of performing artists, literary artists, craftspeople, visual artists, to all participate in this festival in Houghton Park.”
Baker Prindle said the festival is still under development, but participants will be able to see performance stages, food vendors, booths from nonprofits in the area, visual artists, dancing, and more.
“I find people here are so proud of their cultural heritage but also really proud to be here and part of this American experiment. That’s what I think makes Long Beach so exciting,” Baker Prindle said.
The Getty 25 project goals include:
- To create strong connections between the Getty and neighborhoods that are underrepresented in the Getty’s current audience.
- Creating long-lasting connections between the community partners, the festival attendees, and the Getty.
- Engaging honorably and equitably with community-based organizations to foster long-term connections.
“As cultural stakeholders in the Long Beach creative community, we believe that arts and culture must be accessible for all to create better community outcomes,” according to the Long Beach Creative Coalition mission statement. “Through active civic engagement, we seek to improve the social, environmental, and economic life of our city and provide spaces that encourage creativity through collaboration.”
Studio One Eleven’s marketing director, Sinéad Finnerty-Pyne, said the festival is a kick start to something bigger and hopes more of these events will come back to the city in the near future.
“Beyond the Getty Festival, we felt that it was an opportunity to be together post-pandemic,” Finnerty-Pyne said. “It’s also an opportunity for people from both Long Beach and beyond to see and experience the richness and diversity of our culture here.”
As a community member of north Long Beach, Baker Prindle said he’s impressed with the Getty’s festival plans because he thinks it confirms that museums around the world are starting to better understand how to serve communities.
“They don’t have to do this, but I think they recognize that perhaps there are many ways to bring arts and culture to people,” Baker Prindle said. “By meeting people where they are, you actually gain the benefit of learning from them.”
The festival is free and will take place from June 4 – 5 in Houghton Park. Other cities participating in the Getty 25 festivals include Inglewood, Koreatown, Watts, and more.