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GRAND PERFORMANCES OVERVIEW:
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Grand Performances presents free performing arts that reflect the best of global culture and inspire community among the diverse peoples of Los Angeles.
Grand Performances (GP) is Southern California's largest presenter of free performing arts programs and a landmark nonprofit arts institution established with a primary focus on bringing together the diverse peoples of Los Angeles, in unique settings, for concerts celebrating the cultural contributions of our community's peoples.
Over the last 20 years it has developed an unmatched history of working with artists of importance to Los Angeles' many communities in order to share their work with all the people of the region. Music, dance, theatre and even film have been presented to audiences that have numbered as high as 6,500 people. Grand Performances is proud that the program has been called "too good to be free" and "the urban experiment that works." It is also proud to have been told that it has the most diverse audience in the country.
Based at California Plaza in Downtown Los Angeles' new financial district, Grand Performances was created as part of an initiative developed by the City's Community Redevelopment Agency to insure that artists and other citizens of Los Angeles who had not been able to participate fully in the cultural life of the community would have access to a "world class" venue and program. The City wanted this program centered in the one part of Los Angeles that belongs to all communities and that is the recognized center of government, business and culture.
Beginning in 1986 with a few lunch hour concerts, the current program has grown to include an evening and weekend series, festivals, commissioned choreographies and extended theatrical runs each year from late June through the end of October. All 40-plus summer events are presented free to the public.
Audience and Artist Development:
Over the years, it has developed a number of new audience development programs and services that help audiences gain additional value from their performing arts experiences. In recognition of its many achievements, it has received a number of awards including two from international associations.
Over the years, in addition to an outstanding list of international touring artists, the program has presented artists who were nurtured throughout our own community - often providing performers early career opportunities to perform outside their home "turf." Close to two-thirds of the artists are based in the greater Los Angeles area. Over half of the artists presented reflect the non-Eurocentric roots of much of Los Angeles.
Though music is the predominant art form presented, Grand Performances has worked closely with dance and theater artists to create new works and is committed to presenting an eclectic mix of disciplines.
Grand Performances has a number of audiences. Its lunch hour series (18 to 30 workday, lunch hour concerts each summer) plays primarily to Downtown's work force, although tourists, Downtown residents, and others make up a noticeable portion of the audience. In recent years, children have started attending in greater numbers as part of school arts programs.
Grand Performances' audiences for its 24 to 36 evening and weekend concerts and festivals look like Los Angeles. They are multigenerational, multicultural and come from all parts of the Greater Los Angeles region. Audience members have been known to drive over 100 miles for some of Grand Performances' presentations.
Accidental Audiences are an important component at California Plaza. (The venue itself is a Downtown attraction featuring the upper station for Angels Flight, Los Angeles' historic funicular, and the Watercourt, one of the region's most elaborate water fountains. The primary fountain can be adjusted to provide a 60 foot by 40 foot (12 meters by 18 meters) stage which can play to audiences as large as 6,500.) Whether as tourists coming to explore Downtown or for purposes of conducting business in Downtown's corporate office buildings, hundreds of people each week stumble on the rehearsals and performances taking place on the Plaza.
Grand Performances has developed a number of "user-friendly" systems to inform these accidental audience members about the programs taking place during their visit and about Grand Performances activities in general. These systems were formalized during a project funded with a grant from the Lila Wallace Readers' Digest Foundation. A site-specific choreography with a new sound score was commissioned by Grand Performances. During rehearsals, which took place during all hours of the day, "facilitators" were engaged to help accidental audience members better understand what was going on, where the artists were in the creative process, and when the final performances would take place. By the time the performances took place, some accidental audience members became accidental facilitators sharing what they had learned with people they brought to subsequent rehearsals and performances.
Grand Performances is a non-profit organization:
In response to the community's interest in seeing more activity produced by Grand Performances, it has established a fundraising program to develop public and private income sources to support expanding the program. Grand Performances is governed by a board made up of respected community leaders and has a ten-member professional staff that is well-known and highly regarded in the arts community. Grand Performances is committed to being an institution that serves the Los Angeles community by working with artists, community leaders, and audience members to build a healthier community with well-informed citizens.
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