(Beverly Hills, CA September 11) As heads of many of Los Angeles’ major cultural institutions, women are shaping how audiences experience the visual and performing arts in a city with a strikingly diverse and robust artistic landscape. Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts (The Wallis) is teaming up with Los Angeles magazine to present Center Stage: Women Leaders & the Arts in L.A., a dynamic discussion on Thursday, September 21 at 9:00am that explores the ways in which visionary women have taken the lead in L.A.’s artistic life.
Hosted by The Wallis’ Managing Director Rachel Fine, featured panelists include: Debbie Allen, Co-Founder and sole Artistic Director of the Debbie Allen Dance Academy, three time Emmy Award-winning director and choreographer and Wallis Board Member; Danielle Brazell, General Manager of the City of Los Angeles’ Department of Cultural Affairs; Carolina A. Miranda, Staff Writer covering arts and culture at the Los Angeles Times; and Ann Philbin, Director of the Hammer Museum. The conversation will be moderated by Marielle Wakim, Arts & Culture Editor at Los Angeles magazine. The panelists will discuss current and future initiatives and how L.A.’s leading women of arts and culture are setting the tone, fostering new paths and touching the lives of every Angeleno. A networking opportunity will immediately follow the panel discussion with morning refreshments generously provided by Porta Via Beverly Hills.
This free event continues The Wallis’ commitment to accessible arts and culture programming for the Los Angeles community.
“Los Angeles has a long tradition of empowering visionary female leaders in the arts including Dorothy Chandler, Deborah Rutter, now President of the Kennedy Center, Deborah Borda, now President and Chief Executive Officer of the New York Philharmonic, and Wallis Annenberg,” said Fine. “As our city’s cultural profile continues to rise and attract international attention, I thought it an opportune time to gather my impressive colleagues to discuss how we got here, as well as what challenges and opportunities lie ahead.”
“There’s never been a more thrilling time to be part of the cultural fabric of Los Angeles, and it’s as heartening as it is exciting to see women leading the charge,” said Wakim.
Complimentary general admission tickets are now available for reservation by visiting TheWallis.org/CenterStage, by emailing [email protected], calling 310.746.4000, stopping by in person at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts Ticket Services located at 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90210, or joining the Facebook events at: https://www.facebook.com/events/133202430622008/.
About the Panelists:
Debbie Allen, a BFA graduate of Howard University in Theater and Classical Greek Studies is an award-winning director/choreographer who has choreographed the Academy Awards a record ten times. She has directed and choreographed for legendary artists such as Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey, James Earl Jones, Phylicia Rashad, Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston, Gwen Verdon, Lena Horne and Sammy Davis, Jr. Allen received the Golden Globe for her role as Lydia Grant in the 1980s hit series “Fame,” and is a three-time Emmy Award winner in Choreography for the series “Fame” and “The Motown 25th.” Awarded ten Image Awards as director, actress, choreographer and producer for “Fame,” “A Different World,” “Motown 25th,” “The Academy Awards,” “The Debbie Allen Special” and Amistad, she has also directed the best that Network TV offers, including “Scandal,” “How To Get Away With Murder,” “Jane The Virgin,” “Empire” and currently serves as directing Executive Producer of “Grey’s Anatomy” where she also holds a recurring role as Catherine Avery. She is daughter of Vivian Ayers and Dr. Andrew Allen, wife to NBA All Star Norman Nixon and mother of Vivian and Thump.
Danielle Brazell is the General Manager of the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, leading a staff of 66 full-time employees and 171 part-time employees. Brazell works with the progressive agency’s Public Art, Grants Administration, Community Arts, Performing Arts, and Marketing and Development Division Directors to oversee a 2017/18 fiscal year budget of $12.4 million and a portfolio of facilities, programming, and initiatives providing arts and cultural services. Prior to 2014, Brazell was the Executive Director of Arts for LA, a highly visible arts advocacy organization serving the greater Los Angeles region. Under her stewardship, Arts for LA became a formidable coalition advancing the arts in the largest county in the country. Brazell also held the positions of Artistic Director of Highways Performance Space and the Director of Special Projects for the Screen Actors Guild Foundation. She currently serves as a board member of Americans for the Arts and DataArts.
Carolina A. Miranda is a staff writer for the Los Angeles Times, where she produces the “Culture High & Low” blog. In this post, she covers art, architecture, design and film. This includes in-depth reports on the intersection of art and race, innovations by Pritzker Prize-winning architects, developments in international film, and issues of art and gentrification in Boyle Heights. Prior to joining the Times, she was an independent magazine writer and radio reporter producing stories on art, culture and travel for TIME, ARTnews, ARCHITECT, Art in America, Fast Company, NPR’s All Things Considered and PRI’s Studio 360. She is a currently a regular contributor at KCRW’s Press Play. Miranda is a winner of the Rabkin Prize in Visual Arts Journalism. Find her on Twitter at @cmonstah.
Ann Philbin, as director of the Hammer Museum at UCLA,has built a renowned exhibition program, a strong and distinctive institutional identity, and an international reputation for scholarly excellence and cutting-edge programming. Major programs launched since her arrival in 1999 include the acclaimed Hammer Projects series showcasing young and emerging artists, the widely influential Public Engagement initiative, the signature Made in L.A. biennial, and the implementation of free admission in 2014. Also under Philbin’s leadership, the Hammer has developed a robust calendar of more than 300 free public programs per year spotlighting many of the most provocative and creative thinkers of our time. Today, after nearly two decades of ambitious institutional growth, Philbin is leading the Hammer through a comprehensive multiyear transformation plan and capital campaign that will renovate, expand, and fully activate the museum’s facility by the year 2020.
About the Moderator:
Marielle Wakim dutifully pops all things culture as the Arts and Culture Editor for Los Angeles magazine. She earned a Masters in Professional Writing from the University of Southern California and a BA in English Lit from Miami University (the one in Ohio). Both degrees came in handy when she appeared on Wheel of Fortune. Some other places you can read/hear her: the New York Times, NPR, Huffington Post, Relevant, DAME, and elsewhere. Also, she went viral once http://bit.ly/1J72Ts0 (sorry, Whole Foods).
About The Wallis:
Since opening its doors in October 2013, The Wallis has produced or presented more than 150 dance, theatre, opera, classical music and family programs to an ever-expanding audience. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Paul Crewes and Managing Director Rachel Fine, The Wallis brings audiences world-class theater, dance and music, performed by many of the world’s most talented and sought-after artists. Featuring eclectic programming that mirrors the diverse landscape of Los Angeles and its notability as the entertainment capital of the world, The Wallis offers original and revered works from across the U.S. and around the globe.
The mission of The Wallis is to create, present and celebrate unique performing arts events and educational programs that reflect the rich cultural diversity of our community. Nominated for 28 Ovation Awards, four L.A. Drama Critic’s Circle Awards and the recipient of six architectural awards, The Wallis is a breathtaking 70,000-square-foot venue that celebrates the classic and the modern and was designed by Zoltan E. Pali, FAIA of Studio Pali Fekete architects. The building features the restored, original 1933 Beverly Hills Post Office (on the National Register of Historic Places) that serves as the theater’s dramatic yet welcoming lobby, and houses the 150-seat Lovelace Studio Theater, GRoW at The Wallis: A Space for Arts Education (a gift of Gregory Annenberg Weingarten and Family and the Annenberg Foundation) and the contemporary 500-seat, state-of-the-art Bram Goldsmith Theater. Together, these structures embrace the city’s history and its future, creating a performing arts destination for L.A.-area visitors and residents alike.
About Los Angeles magazine:
Los Angeles has chronicled life in the second-largest U.S. city since the magazine’s founding by Geoff Miller in the spring of 1961. The definitive resource for Angelenos, Los Angeles covers the people, food, culture, arts and entertainment, fashion, lifestyle, and news that defines Southern California with a signature mix of feature-length writing, service journalism, investigative reporting, and design. Led by executive editor Matthew Segal, the magazine has been the recipient of three National Magazine Awards in addition to numerous other industry honors. With more than 800,000 monthly readers and 140,000 monthly subscribers, Los Angeles is the only local publication with 100% paid and verified readership.
For more information about The Wallis, please visit: TheWallis.org.
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TICKET INFORMATION:
What:
CENTER STAGE: WOMEN LEADERS & THE ARTS IN L.A.
Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts
Bram Goldsmith Theater
9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA, 90210
When:
Thursday, September 21, 2017
- 9:00am Morning Refreshments sponsored by Porta Via
- 9:30am Panel discussion
Tickets:
Admission is FREE, but reservations are appreciated.
RSVP:
Online – TheWallis.org/CenterStage
Email – [email protected]
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/events/133202430622008
By Phone – 310.746.4000
Box Office – Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts Ticket Service
9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA, 90210
