GALLERY HOURS

Wednesday - Sunday, noon – 6pm
Thursday, noon – 9pm

LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions)
6522 Hollywood Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90028
t: 323.957.1777 I f: 323.957.9025
e: info@welcometolace.org

CONTACT

If you would like to inquire about LACE events or purchase items from our Kiosk and Limited Editions programs, please contact us at 323.957.1777 ext. 17.


LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions) is located east of Highland and west of Cahuenga. Our cross street is Wilcox. Parking is available for $6.00 in the lot behind the building, accessible from Wilcox. There is also ample metered street parking available. We are near the 101 freeway and the Metro Red Line’s Hollywood/Vine station. The galleries are wheelchair accessible.

Admission to the gallery is free with a recommended donation of $3.00.

LACE both champions and challenges the art of our time by fostering artists who innovate, explore, and risk.  We move within and beyond our four walls to provide opportunities for diverse publics to engage deeply with contemporary art.  In doing so, we further dialogue and participation between and among artists and those audiences.

History

Founded in 1978 by a small group of artists, LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions) has become an internationally recognized pioneer among art institutions. Uniquely positioned among commercial galleries and major art establishments, our nonprofit organization provides a local venue that advocates and exhibits innovations in art-making.  By encouraging experimentation, LACE has nurtured not only several generations of young artists, but also newly emerging art forms such as performance art, video art, digital art, and installation-based work. LACE has presented the work of over 5,000 artists in over 3,000 programs and events, which have provided the impetus for dialogue about contemporary arts and culture for over 30 years.

Many of the artists that LACE has supported over the years, being once unknown, have gone on to become influential and admired individuals in their field, including Laurie Anderson, John Baldessari, Chris Burden, Karen Finley, Dan Graham, Gronk, Ishmael Houston-Jones, Mike Kelley, Martin Kersels, Barbara Kruger, Linda Nishio, Tony Oursler, Jorge Pardo, Rudy Perez, Paper Tiger TV, Adrian Piper, Nancy Rubins, Ed Ruscha, Jim Shaw, Diana Thater, Bill Viola, Johanna Went, and Bruce and Normon Yonemoto.

Since moving to Hollywood Boulevard in the mid-1990s, LACE has become a key intermediary between the local community and the contemporary art world. Our prominent spot on the Hollywood Walk of Fame allows for a broad and diverse audience.  Since contemporary artists’ interests have moved beyond the gallery itself and into public arenas, LACE’s programs encourage the public to encounter art in their daily existence so that they are engaged by it and also participate in it.  LACE has been deeply involved in the creative vibrancy of the Hollywood community and looks forward to expanding its reach through programming efforts.

LACE’s programming is either free or low-cost, making it accessible to all audiences.  Just in 2008, LACE produced an exciting range of creative and educational activities, including 11 exhibitions, more than 40 public programs, and a mobile public art project. These presentations served nearly 16,000 audience members, and showcased the work of 195 artists and 18 curators. LACE has more than doubled its education and outreach offerings since 2005 and plans to continue this expansion.

LACE has developed ongoing education and outreach programs in order to build audiences and provoke discussions of exhibitions.  These programs include the Salon Series, which are experiential events for adults; ArtWorks, providing hands-on art making workshops for at-risk youth; and the Gallery Guides Program, which provides gallery visitors with a point of entry for the artwork and its concepts.

At a time when public funding for arts education has diminished, and access to the arts becomes more rare for all populations, LACE strives to increase meaningful dialogue between our institution and our diverse community. LACE fosters artistic collaboration and provides Los Angeles audiences with access to stimulating ideas and artworks. These original guiding principles remain at the very heart of the organization today. While the contemporary art community in Los Angeles has grown and expanded over the years, the need for a venue like LACE—free from commercial constraint and unbound by the restrictions imposed by larger institutions—is more essential to the vitality and diversity of that community than ever before.

Recently celebrating its 30th anniversary, LACE has become a part of LA’s history and continues to innovate into the city’s future.

STAFF

Carol Stakenas, Executive Director (09/05)

Since her arrival at LACE in 2005, Stakenas has worked with over 400 artists, more than 50 of which have developed unique and innovative projects that could only be realized through a residency at LACE. Through training and experience, Stakenas leads LACE’s staff to deliver core programs.  These programs require socially intensive processes to engage numerous community groups, local businesses, city agencies and thousands of residents. Stakenas is also a faculty member at the University of Southern California in Public Art Studies.

Previously, Stakenas was the Deputy Director/Curator of Creative Time, New York City’s adventurous public arts presenter. She has worked with a broad range of artists including Asymptote, Haluk Akakçe, Natalie Bookchin, Chris Doyle, Cai Guo-Qiang, Granular Synthesis, Shu Lea Cheang, Vik Muniz, Takashi Murakami, Marjetica Potrç, Toshi Reagon, Erwin Redl, Steve Roden, Christopher Russell, Mary Ellen Strom and Lebbeus Woods.  She has curated and produced multidisciplinary public art at sites such as Massless Medium and Music in the Anchorage in the Brooklyn Bridge Anchorage; Consuming Places in DUMBO Brooklyn; the DNA Deli Cups and the DNAid Billboards; PDPal, a mobile mapping project commission in Times Square; Shimon Attie's Between Dreams and History on Manhattan's Lower East Side; and Karaoke Ice, a mobile public art project that traveled throughout Los Angeles.

Robert Crouch, Associate Director/Curator (07/08)
robert(at)welcometolace(dot)org

Having joined LACE in 2008, Crouch is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the organization.  He works closely with the Executive Director in planning and fundraising activities. Crouch has a decade of fundraising and non-profit membership management experience. During his 9-year tenure at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, he increased annual membership revenue by 60% over a three-year period, raising annual membership revenue from $740,000 to $1.2 million. He is also the co-founder and co-curator of Volume Projects, which functions as a catalyst for interdisciplinary new media work through exhibitions, performances, events, lectures, and publications.

Geneva Skeen, Program Coordinator (10/09)
geneva(at)welcometolace(dot)org

Skeen joined LACE in the summer of 2009 to help coordinate production on the annual 10K as a volunteer. Since then, she has taken on production of the vast spectrum of LACE's exhibitions and programming. As part of this effort she liaises with all artists, guest curators, gallerists, educators, vendors, partnering organizations, and schools in addition to running the internship and volunteer programs. Her creative practice in music and performance encompasses solo and collaborative work throughout Los Angeles. She is a graduate of Occidental College, where she studied Critical Theory & Social Justice, and studied at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts in Dramatic Arts.

Andrea Dominguez, Los Angeles Goes Live Producer (08/10)
andrea(at)welcometolace(dot)org

BOARD MEMBERS

Bill Moreno, President (12/10) is a visionary leader with diverse background in non-profit and corporate programming and management. Moreno was most recently the founding Executive Director of the Claremont Museum of Art in Claremont, CA, where he was responsible for the completion, programming, and staffing of this private venture which secured $12M in commitments. Critically acclaimed exhibitions there included Karl Benjamin: Conversations in Color, Ephemeral: Explorations in Light, Mutiverse, and Vexing: Female Voices from East LA Punk. He has also excelled as Executive Director of The Mexican Museum, San Francisco, and Director of Aguirre Gallery in Silicon Valley, CA. He has served on the City of Los Angeles Individual Artist Fellowships and the NALAC Fund for the Arts panels, and is a member of FOCA, Los Angeles; The Director's Forum, NY, the College Art Association, and ICI. Moreno is a graduate of NALAC, and has appeared extensively as featured speaker and panelist to discuss global art issues. In addition to his leadership at LACE, he also serves on the board for Make Music LA.

Synderela Peng, Secretary, (6/07) is an artist and graphic designer.  She is currently an art director at yU+co.  Her clients include Universal Studios, Disney, Sony Pictures, and Touchstone Pictures. She provides strategic direction in developing LACE’s communication plan, and demonstrates strong leadership in her support of LACE programming.

Glenn R. Phillips (6/05) is Research Associate and Consulting Curator in the Department of Contemporary Programs and Research at the Getty Research Institute. He recently curated the acclaimed California Video retrospective at the Getty Museum.

Vincent Ruiz-Abogado, Vice-President, (06/07) is an independent art director and film maker.  He created title sequences for films such as Brokeback Mountain, Fantastic 4 and XXX.  His clients include HBO, Bravo, TNT and Partnership for a Drugfree America. This year he directed A Walk in the Park, a documentary feature film. He brings his expertise to developing access to the LACE Video Archive Project for the 30th Anniversary.

Margie Schnibbe, Treasurer (6/10) is a multidisciplinary artist and filmmaker whose works have appeared at numerous venues including Rotterdam International Film Festival, Arte TV Europe, MIX NYC, David Kordansky Gallery and MOCA Los Angeles. Margie was one of the organizers of Lust 4 LACE 2008, which restored one of LACE’s most notorious events – the Annual Valentine’s Benefit. She brings an enthusiastic DIY spirit and a background in technical theater, film and independent media production.

Jackie Sharp (5/10), a nearly-native of Los Angeles, has spent the majority of her professional career working in the video and music industries. After establishing her own independent video distribution company (Independent World Video) in the mid-80s and earning the titles of Executive Producer and later, Vice President of Production and Original Programs at VH1, Sharp returned to LA to run her family's business. Since 1980, her continued work with Target Video (aka TargetVideo77) has documented and shared hundreds of shows to independent and museum venues, including LACE, the Getty Museum, and MOCA.  She remains deeply committed to the idea that art should knock your socks off or trouble you deeply.

LACE INTERNS

Jennifer Brecheteau
Jared Johnson
Tracy Gardner
Nicole Garton
Randy Illium
Esther Lee
Angelena Psaras
Tim Stark
Grace Stott
Monica Tzeng
Cody Whirl
Kim Zumpfe
Christina Ybarra 

Additional support for LACE and its programs is provided by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, the Getty Foundation, Jerry and Terri Kohl Family Foundation, Los Angeles County Arts Commission, The Mohn Family Foundation, Morris Family Foundation, the Audrey & Sydney Irmas Charitable Foundation, National Performance Network, the C. Christine Nichols Donor Advised Fund at the Community Foundation of Abilene, Stone Brewing Co., and the members of LACE.