The celebration at the La Brea Tar Pits and Museum marked a significant construction milestone for Phase 1 of the project between Koreatown and Beverly Hills. Officials thanked residents and businesses for their support. The free celebration included music and dance performances, games, giveaways, food trucks and businesses participating in Metro’s Eat, Shop, Play program, which promotes local companies during subway construction.
Read MoreIt's hard to feel like you're firing on all cylinders when quarantine is still dragging on, and the last word in culture has suddenly become a weekend of bingeing Too Hot to Handle on Netflix (which, as we've discussed before, isn't worth your time; try the queer season of Are You The One? instead.)
If reality TV isn't your bag at all, or if you just need something ever-so-slightly more cerebral to occupy yourself with, you're in luck: over 150 artists, including Karen Finley, Anthony James, Channing Hansen, Inès Longevial, Joe Pugliese, Sarah Sitkin, Tallulah Willis and show producer Liana Weston, have convened to contribute art that will be collected in video montages and projected through the windows of the now-closed Taschen gallery space on Beverly Boulevard in Los Angeles.
“I asked a friend who had access to a former gallery location If I could host a video art style show from the windows of the space," the Los Angeles-based artist Torie Zalben, told Vogue: "He agreed and I then sought out my curatorial committee and show producer. The team organically assembled and a roster of artists came on board very quickly. The show grew from nothing to a full-blown, video-screen window art fair in a matter of a week.”
Read MoreJoey Gallagher, CEO of Gallagher Staging, was not idle during the Covid-19 pandemic shutdown. He and his team collaborated with Surface Productions, Redhouse Presents, Anaconda Street Productions and West Coast Show Support to create a new studio space called Social Sanctuary, where they’ve been experimenting and proving different methods of safely producing live performances. Much of what they have learned through this process has also been shared with the Event Safety Alliance (ESA) and Entertainment Industry Response (EIR), the latter of which Gallagher helped found in response to challenges created by the coronavirus crisis. The best practices developed at Social Sanctuary are being used to create safe reopening guidelines for the live event industry at large. Gallagher took some time out of his busy schedule to speak with PLSN about Social Sanctuary and what he sees for the future of live events.
Read MoreSocial Sanctuary’s policies minimize the number of people on-site (which means no large entourages or media presence) and the venue has distanced workspaces surrounded in plexiglass for those employees who are always on set, as well as separated viewing platforms. They're also following up with people who have been in the building to monitor their health. "No one's gotten sick. Everyone complies with the CDC guidelines; everyone's wearing a mask. If you go out for lunch, you have to check back in and your temperature's taken; you're asked about your personal protection equipment. Everyone takes it pretty seriously," said audio/video/broadcast supervisor Ernie Mondaca, who owns Surface Productions, Inc. "We've had DJs show up and they don’t want to wear a mask. We don't let them in; we have to cancel their set."
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