Today marked the official groundbreaking for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art.
Co-Founders George Lucas and Mellody Hobson along with the Museum’s Board of Directors joined Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, Los Angeles City Councilmember Curren Price and a group of more than 100 civic and community leaders to break ground on this 21st century cultural destination to be located at Exposition Park in South Los Angeles.
The Lucas Museum will celebrate the art of visual storytelling and enable people of diverse backgrounds to experience the power of narrative art across all mediums, including painting, illustration, comic art, photography, film, animation and digital art. It is intended to be a place where visitors feel comfortable and welcomed by engaging with art forms they may already recognize and love.
With an iconic building designed by Ma Yansong of MAD Architects, the 300,000 square-foot non-profit museum will feature collection galleries and exhibition spaces displaying original works of art from world-renowned artists, cutting-edge digital technologies and daily film screenings in two state-of-the-art theaters. It will also offer extraordinary educational opportunities with hands-on and digital classrooms and a free public research library for educators, scholars, and students. Education will be a centerpiece of the Museum’s programming to provide diverse students of all ages the skills to voice their own stories and spark creativity.
The project will transform a series of asphalt parking lots into a museum surrounded by 11 acres of new parkland and gardens designed by Los Angeles-based landscape architecture firm Studio-MLA. Thousands of jobs will be created directly and indirectly as a result of the Museum.
Construction is commencing immediately and is anticipated to be completed by late 2021.