CAP UCLA teams up with Theatre at Ace Hotel: Why shows are moving from the Westside to downtown
The CAP UCLA collaboration with The Theatre at Ace Hotel stems from a creative relationship that Artistic & Executive Director Kristy Edmunds has had with the Ace Hotel brand and its founders since the late 1990’s. Both share an ethos for supporting contemporary artists who carry the culture forward. In Los Angeles, they have embarked on a long-term alliance that melds their brand sensibilities, serves contemporary performance, and brings UCLA’s creative footprint into downtown LA.
In Los Angeles, the pursuit of art and the quest for love share a common denominator: If you find yourself regularly braving the 405 or 10 freeways in search of fulfillment, it must be serious. And so it was that in years past, cultural connoisseurs from points north, south and east made the pilgrimage to the Westside and UCLA’s Royce Hall to take in a presentation curated by the Center for the Art of Performance.
Beginning in September, however, CAP UCLA will no longer play hard to get. The organization, known for presenting contemporary, often experimental, live performances is partnering with the Theatre at Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles to bring a third of its programming to the center of the city. The crosstown collaboration will include the Los Angeles premiere of Taylor Mac’s critically acclaimed “A 24-Decade History of Popular Music,” a Pulitzer finalist and one of the most buzzed-about pieces of performance art this year.
“The audience that was coming to Royce Hall was increasingly living on the Eastside,” CAP UCLA artistic director Kristy Edmunds said over coffee at the Ace. “It’s a lot of artists, a lot of younger creatives. It’s harder for them to get across the wave of traffic. If there’s a barrier that makes the goodness of what you do difficult for people to reach, you have to change something.”
The Ace was thrilled by the prospect of multifaceted programming, said Kelly Sawdon, Ace partner and chief brand officer.
“What we measure as success is not going after one specific age group or demographic. It’s about diversity and pushing creative culture,” she says. “It’s about supporting artists and creating communities that are also supportive of that.” — Jessica Gelt, May 4, 2017
Read the full article at the Los Angeles Times website.