Upcoming Events
Grand Illuminations: Opening Night Celebration 2025
In partnership with DTLA Alliance, Liquid PXL, and The Goddess Mercado.
Join us for Downtown LA's biggest switch-flipping ceremony, Grand Illuminations! Enjoy a holiday marketplace curated by The Goddess Mercado, featuring a lighting ceremony, followed by live music until 7 pm. Celebrate the season as Liquid PXL lights up Downtown LA with a mesmerizing display of color, motion, and magic featuring the dazzling Electric Dandelions and a towering LED light tree.
Please help us spread the holiday spirit by supporting the Para Los Niños Toy and Essentials Drive. Donate essential hygiene items, gift cards, or new unwrapped toys to support local children, families, and youth in need. Click the link for Para Los Niños wishlist.
Weds. December 3, 2025
Schedule:
Goddess Mercado Marketplace: 12:00 - 7:00 PM
4:00 PM DJ Adam
4:45 PM Colburn Concert Choir
5:20 - 5:25 PM – Countdown & Lights ON Moment
5:30 – 6:30 PM – Luis Villegas' Guitarras de Navidad Band
6:30 – 7:00 PM – DJ Adam
Liquid PXL transforms Cal Plaza with a Spectacular Light Show for the second year in a row
Downtown LA welcomes a dazzling new attraction with Grand Illuminations at The Yard at Cal Plaza. Starting December 3, 2025 through January 4, 2026. Experience an immersive world of light and color as LA-based artist Liquid PXL paints the night with holiday lights. Marvel at showstoppers like the towering 25-foot LED tree, 10 radiant Electric Dandelions, mesmerizing Lumiverse light columns, alongside festive holiday décor adorning the plaza.
What to Expect:
✨Experience a new, immersive holiday light display at The Yard at Cal Plaza, featuring Liquid PXL’s Electric Dandelions, Lumiverse, and a 25-foot custom-designed tree
🧸 Bring a new, unwrapped toy or hygiene product to support the Para Los Niños Toy and Essentials Drive
🎄 Lighting ceremony at 5 PM
🎶 Live musical performances from 4 PM – 7 PM
☕ Enjoy a holiday marketplace curated by The Goddess Mercado from 12 pm-7 pm
What to Expect Nightly:
🕙 Nightly light shows from dusk 'til 10 pm, through January 4, 2026
🌟 10 radiant Electric Dandelions
✨ Lumiverse light columns
🎄 25' LED light tree
🎁 Festive decorations
🚋 Just steps away from Angels Flight, Cal Marketplace, and Grand Central Market
About Liquid PXL
Liquid PXL is an LA-based group of artists, engineers and friends dedicated to creating fun and large-scale interactive art installations. Liquid PXL began with its first big art project at Burning Man in 2012, followed by its first music festival exhibit at Lucidity in 2013. Several of their LED light installations have been exhibited at international light festivals rhythm and color.
About Plaza Commons, Inc. (PCI)
Plaza Commons, Inc. (PCI) is a mutual benefit corporation comprised of the owners of the corporate buildings at California Plaza that include CIM Group, Rising Realty Partners, and OMNI Hotel – Los Angeles. Through PCI’s funding of the Performing Arts Program, the owners of California Plaza have supported the development of Grand Performances’ summer series that now draws significant local, regional, and national attention to the plaza and downtown Los Angeles.
About DTLA Alliance
The DTLA Alliance is a private non-profit coalition of more than 2,000 property owners, employing a team of nearly 100 and working with a range of city, county, and state officials and agencies to enhance the quality of life in the 65-square blocks of the Downtown Center, a bustling commercial and residential hub including Bunker Hill, the Financial District, Jewelry District, and Pershing Square.
For over 25 years, the DTLA Alliance has taken pride in keeping the Downtown Center safe, clean, and welcoming, providing services such as sidewalk wash downs, trash pickups, and graffiti removal;
deploying safety patrols on foot, bicycle, and vehicle; providing community assistance with Downtown ambassadors; and responding to individuals and properties in need of assistance through a 24/7 service hotline.
The organization is the leading source of information about Downtown LA and the Downtown market. Through DowntownLA.com, This Week in DTLA e-newsletter, and @downtown_la on social media, it reaches millions of people a year with stories about DTLA and insights on the latest to see and do. The DTLA Alliance produces highly regarded market reports and guides to the office, retail, residential, hospitality, and arts & culture sectors, along with research, tours, and other services to attract and support investment, development, and new businesses to DTLA.
About Para Los Niños
Para Los Niños continues to serve L.A.’s neediest children and families, placing education at the core of our work. In keeping with our original mission to help children thrive, our model – of early-education, TK-8th grade education, youth workforce services, and family and community services – provides a comprehensive, holistic approach to break the cycle of poverty and help children, youth, and families reach their full potential.
Thanks to Our Community Partners
LAte Night Train of Thought
Join Metro Art, Zócalo Public Square, and Grand Performances for “LAte Night Train of Thought,” a free evening celebrating the vibrant arts scene that connects Angelenos across music, comedy, poetry, and conversation, on Saturday, Nov. 8 from 7–10PM at Union Station.
Dave Iwataki’s J-Town Bronzeville Suite
An original jazz & dance piece celebrating a shared legacy of hope, home, and heart
DEEP 25th Anniversary
We honor 25 years of Marques Wyatt’s legendary LA house music party.
Nance Arte Presents: Latin Goes Ska ft. Western Standard Time Ska Orchestra
Celebrate the vibrant fusion of Latin rhythms and electric ska energy
Prelude: Cinema Classical
Discover how classical music shaped the magic of iconic film scores
Adrian Quesada’s Boleros Psicodélicos
Soulful, psychedelic boleros — a rare set from the visionary Black Pumas rocker
She Speaks: The Last Word w/ Yesika Salgado
A night rooted in the fierce joy of simply existing - loud, soft, brown, brilliant
KCRW Summer Nights Presents Baby Rose and Angélica Garcia
Summer Nights returns to Grand Performances - stay tuned for artist reveal later this week!
She Speaks: Sultana’s Dream w/ Tanzila Ahmed
Futurist poems from women who dare to imagine a more equitable society
Berimbau: Sounds of Resilience!
From Angola to Brazil – a single string, a thousand histories
Prelude: Bach Bebop w/ Suraj Partha
From Bach to bebop - the classical roots of jazz come alive
Bastille Day Los Angeles
Come celebrate French culture, French music, and French food together, in the City of Angels!
Mystical Melodies w/ Saami Brothers Qawwal
Ancient devotion meets hypnotic rhythm within Qawwali’s sacred sound
CALIFORNIA LOVE: An Orchestral Celebration of Dr. Dre
Led by Grammy-winning multi-instrumentalist and composer Sly5thAve, a 30 piece orchestra honors Dr. Dre’s iconic g-funk hits
COLA Artist Fellows 2025
LA's finest artists share bold new works across jazz, literature & movement
John Coltrane: A Love Supreme at 60 w/ Isaiah Collier
A celebration of the jazz masterpiece and its divine inspiration, joy and transformation
She Speaks: Reclaiming Identity w/ Consuelo G Flores
Powerful poetry and live music exploring themes of womanhood
POSTPONED: Ozomatli 30th Anniversary Celebration
Kick off our summer season with LA’s beloved Ozomatli and a celebration of their monumental 30th anniversary as a band.
GP x NextFest at the LA County Fair
Join GP for a family fun day of music at the LA County Fair! Grand Performances, NextFest, and LA County Fair have joined forces for a special one day collaboration.
Changüí Majadero Cuban Block Party
Grand Performances in partnership with the City of Culver City presents a Cuban Block Party featuring the music of Changüí Majadero at The Culver Steps.
Grand Illuminations: Opening Night Celebration
"Paint the Night in Holiday Light!" Join us as we flip the switch on 100,000+ lights at The Yard at Cal Plaza and ring in the holidays!
Grand Avenue Arts: All Access
As part of Grand Ave Arts: All Access, join us for a day of FREE family fun at Grand Performances, featuring HOLA Intergenerational Choir, Urban Voices Project, and Gay Men’s Chorus.
Broadway Night Lights
In partnership with Broadway Night Lights, Grand Performances presents an unforgettable night of music in LA’s most historic theaters on Broadway in downtown Los Angeles.
CHUCHO PONCE Y LOS DADDYS
Born in Brooklyn, New York and based in his father’s hometown of Chinantla, Puebla, Chucho Ponce Los Daddy’s innovates the cumbia poblana sound infusing it with a hip-hop beatmaker sensibility.
The Neighborhood Orchestra
In partnership with the City of West Hollywood, LA’s own The Neighborhood Orchestra ft. Annie Gonzalez will bring their infectious rhythms and intricate melodies for a Sunday evening concert.
MADISON MCFERRIN
In partnership with MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles), Grand Performances presents the genre bending songstress Madison McFerrin, bringing her self-harmonizing blend of R&B, pop, soul and jazz to the stage.
LA STORIES: HOME w/ CARRIBEAN FRAGOZA
Join us for a special Friday night poetry show hosted by poet and writer Carribean Fragoza.
Listen to Music Outside at Sunset in Downtown LA
Listen to Music Outside in the Sunset at California Plaza (presented by dublab and Leaving Records) celebrates a local success story of public art made accessible by and for Los Angeles through dedicated collaboration between the city and its artist residents. Bring a picnic and gather with friends and family to enjoy the experimental and forward-looking sounds of this vibrant musical ecosystem.