One of the most anticipated cultural openings in Los Angeles history arrives September 22nd. The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art opens its doors in Exposition Park, and it is unlike any museum the city has ever seen.

Founded by George Lucas and Mellody Hobson, the museum celebrates the power of visual storytelling across every medium and era. The collection spans beloved American illustrators Norman Rockwell, N.C. Wyeth, and Maxfield Parrish, comic artists Jack Kirby and Robert Crumb, and modern masters Frida Kahlo, Jacob Lawrence, and Charles White. Also on view are original production materials from the Star Wars and Indiana Jones films, drawn from the Lucas Archives, an unparalleled collection of props, costumes, and artwork spanning four decades of Lucasfilm history.

The building itself is a destination. Designed by architect Ma Yansong of MAD, the five-story, 300,000-square-foot structure rises organically from Exposition Park. Inside, more than 100,000 square feet of galleries, two cinematic theaters, a research library, and flexible community spaces create a full day’s experience. The surrounding 11-acre campus, designed by landscape architect Mia Lehrer, features gardens, meadows, and more than 200 new trees.

Skywalker Grill, the museum’s signature rooftop restaurant, is inspired by George Lucas’ legendary Skywalker Ranch. Open to museum visitors and the public for lunch, dinner, and weekend brunch, it serves classic American cuisine with panoramic city views.

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BalletX, Philadelphia’s acclaimed contemporary ballet company, comes to Chapman University’s Musco Center for the Arts on Sept. 4, bringing its innovative choreography to Southern California audiences.

The evening showcases the company’s unique contemporary approach to ballet, combining the discipline and precision of classical technique with movement designed to explore modern themes and experiences. BalletX has established a reputation for commissioning new works and collaborating with choreographers from around the world telling today’s stories. Founded in 2005 and led by Artistic and Executive Director Christine Cox, the company has commissioned more than 80 choreographers and produced 150 world premieres. Among BalletX’s repertory is choreographer Caili Quan’s Figments of Song, a lively work inspired by the music of her childhood, as well as Amy Hall Garner’s reimagining of Stravinsky’s Petrushka.

According to BalletX, the company is a “vibrant global incubator for artistic talent,” making ballet more accessible. Critics have praised its 16-member ensemble as being among America’s best.

The performance marks a stop on the company’s national tour and launches the Marybelle Musco Contemporary Dance Series at the Orange County venue. Also part of the series is Compagnie Hervé Koubi: Sol Invictus in January and Alonzo King LINES Ballet in March.

With its 2026-27 season, The Marybelle and Sebastian P. Musco Center for the Arts celebrates 10 years of performances featuring acclaimed companies and celebrated artists across music, dance and theater.

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Just opened in the lovely Broad building at LACMA, Eileen Cowin: Between Panic and Paradise offers a major survey of the Los Angeles–based artist’s provocative work in photography and video. Through the more than 50 works, dating from 1967 to 2025, the exhibition shows how Cowin, now in her late 70’s, has explored the shifting boundary between fiction and nonfiction, using staged scenes, everyday gestures, and cinematic suggestion to turn ordinary moments into psychologically charged narratives. Curators Rebecca Morse and Britt Salvesen have designed a very striking exhibition, bringing together experimental photographic processes, Polaroids, inkjet prints, multiple exposures, and video works drawn from the museum’s collection and other Southern California institutions. The exhibition emphasizes Cowin’s recurring interests in romance and rivalry, intimacy and confrontation, the personal and political, and the strange drama hidden inside daily life. It also highlights her importance to the history of photography in Los Angeles. In 1985, Cowin’s Family Docudrama series appeared in LACMA’s New American Photography, shortly after the museum established its Photography Department.  Between Panic and Paradise positions Cowin as an artist who expanded photographic storytelling by borrowing from cinema, literature, poetry, and painting, inviting viewers to complete the story themselves. The images balance clarity with ambiguity, humor with unease, and the familiar with the mysterious. LACMA is open daily except Wednesdays and the exhibition is free for members, visitors 17 and under and LA County residents (with ID) weekdays from 3 pm till closing.

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Los Angeles Ballet will launch its 21st season in September with two engagements that put American music and choreography in the spotlight, including the company’s debut at the Hollywood Bowl.

On Sept. 8, Los Angeles Ballet joins the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl for a dynamic evening of Mexican and American works. The program features George Balanchine’s “Who Cares?,” set to the music of George Gershwin, alongside “Kauyumari,” a world premiere choreographed by Los Angeles Ballet’s artistic director Melissa Barak to music by Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz. Barak has established herself as a choreographer whose work blends classical and contemporary ballet with modern musical and visual influences.

LAB’s evening at the Bowl also includes Aaron Copland’s “Four Dance Episodes from Rodeo,” José Moncayo’s “Huapango” and Silvestre Revueltas’ “Janitzio.” Grammy-winning conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto will lead the orchestra.

Later in the month, LAB presents “American Icons,” running Sept. 24–27 at BroadStage in Santa Monica. The program commemorates America’s 250th birthday with three works representing distinct strands of American dance. Jerome Robbins’ “The Cage,” set to Igor Stravinsky, shares the bill with Paul Taylor’s playful “Dilly Dilly,” set to music by Charles Ives, and Barak’s “Wavelength,” set to music by Philip Glass.

These programs welcome a new season focused on the company’s history and its continued evolution. Recently, LAB received a General Operating Support Grant from the Perenchio Foundation to strengthen the infrastructure and long-term stability behind the company.

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