The Music Center Launches Third Season Of FOR THE LOVE OF L.A.

The Music Center launches the third season of its digital series, For the Love of L.A., which celebrates the creativity of Los Angeles and supports L.A.-based artists in the disciplines of music, dance, visual culture and more. In its first two seasons, The Music Center's For the Love of L.A. premiered 48 arts projects while offering artists a platform to express their views of Los Angeles that are relevant and reflective of the current time.

The initiative's new season continues The Music Center's commitment to present new artwork through video (e.g., documentation of a dance or music performance), photography (e.g., art photography, photo essay or documentation of another visual artform) and creative writing disciplines. The public can find new works each week on both The Music Center's social channels and The Music Center Offstage, the organization's virtual platform offering newly curated programming including the commission and presentation of original artwork.

Beginning Tuesday, June 22, 2021, The Music Center will premiere the third season of artwork curated by three arts and cultural leaders with deep connections to Los Angeles' performing, visual and literary arts communities. These curators identified the nine artists newly named to the program:

Achinta S. McDaniel (artistic director of Blue13 Dance Company) aims to interrogate the preconceptions and misconceptions of South Asian American artists through her curated project theme "Objects in Mirror..." Musician Ireesh Lal (July 6) explores the ancient concept of Chakras in his music, which will also serve as the soundtrack for the other two artists: Dancer Shalini Bathina (June 22) performs as two characters inspired by Ardhanareeswara, the composite of Hindu deities Shiva (male) and Parvati (female); and teenager Shreya Patel (June 29) fuses her background in western and classical Indian dance styles to choreograph a piece set to Lal's "Mvmt IV: Heart Chakra."

Jennifer Fukutomi-Jones (arts and culture administrator for City of Glendale) has selected three artists who will highlight the hurt and stress caused by the growing number of hate crimes and xenophobia toward Asian Americans and Pacific Islander Americans. Visual artist and Chinese American Audrey Chan's (July 13) vocabulary flash card-style artwork will incorporate themes and subjects dealing with AAPI discrimination to raise awareness for the people behind the stories; Indian American musician Aditya Prakash's (July 20) music will offer allyship and Thai Japanese American musician Tylana Renga Enomoto (July 27) will encourage audiences to embrace activism as a call to action for Angelenos to support the AAPI community.

Luis J. Rodriguez (Poet Laureate of Los Angeles, 2014-2016 and founding editor of Tia Chucha Press and co-founder of Tia Chucha's Centro Cultural & Bookstore in the San Fernando Valley) will showcase the vibrant poetry scene in Los Angeles. Three distinct voices will be heard through original poems and visuals created for The Music Center's For the Love of L.A. by Shonda Buchanan (August 3), author of five books, including the award-winning memoir, Black Indian; Chiwan Choi (August 10), author of three books of poetry, The Flood (Tía Chucha Press, 2010), Abductions (Writ Large Press, 2012) and The Yellow House (CCM, 2017); and Luivette Resto (August 17), whose two books of poetry Unfinished Portrait and Ascension have been published by Tía Chucha Press. Her third collection is forthcoming from FlowerSong Press.

Since August 11, 2020, The Music Center's For the Love of L.A. has profiled new works by photographer Rafael Cardenas; visual artist Yaneli Delgado; painter Manuel López; photographer Stephanie Mei-Ling; artist Amani Holbert; sculptor Dominque Moody; musical performances by Ethiopian musicians Kibrom Birhane and Etsegenet Mekonnen; DJ/musician/composer Mark de Clive-Lowe, and Brazilian jazz vocalist Thalma de Freitas; musical performance and visual art collaborations from: San Cha and Maria Maea; Daniel T. Gaitor-Lomack and AKUA; Neil Frances, Emmy Pickett and Harrison Schaaf; Lee Anne Schmitt and Jeff Parker; and Peter J. Harris, Artyom Manukyan and Jesse Gilbert; dance premieres from Pacifico Dance Company; Versa-Style Dance Company; Syncopated Ladies; Rangoli Dance Company; L.A. FUSION Dance Theater; and JazzAntiqua; photographer Valerie Bower; graphic artist Christine Hipolito; multi-disciplinary artist Anna Luisa Petrisko; puppeteers Audrey Densmore and almighty Opp; theater organist Edward Torres; movement artist Brianna Mims; singer-songwriter X'ene Sky; interdisciplinary artist Jasmine Monsegue; two of The Music Center 's Spotlight Finalists: tap dance champion Maya Alvarez-Coyne, and singer/DJ Teira Church; restaurateurs Christine Araquel-Concordia and Johneric Concordia; musician Daniel French; jam ensemble Shaloha; Drag Queen L Y L E; performance artist Estela Garcia; filmmaker Kyoko Takenaka; painter Samaneh Salehi; Skid Row muralist ShowzArt; baritone Simon Barrad; Zine maker Leo Alas; filmmaker Tempe Hale; performance artist Davia Spain; painter Hana Ward; writer Allison Noelle-Conner; and photographer Marisela Norte.

Previous guest curators have included, Marvella Muro (director of programs for Self Help Graphics & Art); Ed Barguiarena (musician/composer/producer); Raélle Dorfan (executive director, Dance Resource Center); Karen Mack (founder/executive director, LA Commons); Lottie Rippon (events and special projects, DUBLAB) in collaboration with Max Rippon and Kate Emery (co-founders, Quarantine Gallery); Dexter Story (multi-instrumentalist/composer/ producer); Jennelyn Tumalad (arts program producer); Winona Bechtle (director of development and community partnerships for the Bob Baker Marionette Theater); Pierre Davis (founder/lead designer for fashion house No Sesso); Jason Arimoto and Petrice Oyama (U-Space co-founders); Leeav Sofer (artistic director and co-founder of the Urban Voices Project, and Mostly Kosher frontman); The Women's Center for Creative Work; and Eva Recinos (journalist/writer).

The Music Center will post new works of art on The Music Center's Instagram every Tuesday through August 17, 2021. The public can get a closer look at each artist through biographies and statements alongside the complete version of their artwork in a digital library on The Music Center Offstage. In addition, the initiative also aims to inspire the public to engage and participate directly by contributing their own For the Love of L.A. creative projects; some audience-generated content has been selected and shared on The Music Center's social channels. *All artists are subject to change.