How do you transform a 1.3-mile stretch of Crenshaw Boulevard into an “Afrocentric streetscape” featuring a walkable commercial corridor defined by public artworks, tranquil green spaces and beautiful storefronts?
Add UCLA faculty and alumni.
While that’s a bit of an oversimplification, Destination Crenshaw — a $100 million revitalization project that aims to serve as an epicenter of Black American culture, as well as the most significant public/private Black art program in the United States — has been shaped by key ideas, expertise and artwork from Bruins.
To learn much more about how faculty and alumni have played such pivotal roles, people are invited to join a free virtual public forum on Monday, Feb. 6. The event will be held from 5 to 6 p.m. RSVP for the talk.
Darnell Hunt, advisor to the project and UCLA’s executive vice chancellor and provost, will be joined by Jason Foster, president and COO of Destination Crenshaw, Dr. V. Joy Simmons, art collector and advisor, Maren Hassinger, artist, and Ben Caldwell, arts educator and independent filmmaker. Together they will explore further ways to connect Destination Crenshaw with UCLA campus in the years ahead.
This program is part of the Fowler Museum initiative “Art of Liberation: Africa and the African Diaspora,” which is funded by the Nissan Foundation and the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation.
