LACMA Expands Local Access Initiative with New Museum Partners and Exhibitions

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

City of Ontario

Department of Museum, Arts & Culture
 

LACMA Expands Local Access Initiative with New Museum Partners and Exhibitions

California State University, Dominguez Hills University Art Gallery; Millard Sheets Art Center; and Ontario Museum of History & Art  Join Network of Institutions Bringing LACMA’s Collection to Communities Across Southern California

Traveling Exhibition Explores Legacy of South L.A.’s Historic Brockman Gallery

(Los Angeles, CA—September 23, 2025) The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) welcomes the California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) University Art Gallery; the Millard Sheets Art Center at the LA County Fair; and the Ontario Museum of History & Art as the newest members of LACMA’s Local Access program. Supported by the Art Bridges Cohort Program, the museums join four partner institutions in bringing exhibitions sourced from LACMA’s permanent collection to communities across Los Angeles County and beyond. The program’s latest exhibition, Act on It! Artists, Community, and the Brockman Gallery in Los Angeles, opens at the Vincent Price Art Museum at East Los Angeles College on September 27.

Announced in 2021, Local Access was the first iteration of the Art Bridges Cohort Program in the Western United States. The nationwide collection-sharing initiative builds on Art Bridges’ mission to expand access to American art across the country and to empower museums to broaden traditional definitions of American art. For each cohort, a lead museum collaborates with regional partners to create exhibitions that inspire and deepen engagement with local audiences. Sharing artworks and resources, cohort partners generate exhibitions that are relevant to their particular communities and enriched through shared interpretation and educational materials.

LACMA’s cohort is distinguished by its intra-local scope and mission. Alongside this year’s new museum partners, the Local Access network comprises the California State University, Northridge Art Galleries; the Lancaster Museum of Art and History; the Riverside Art Museum; and the Vincent Price Art Museum. This unprecedented partnership looks to establish a new model for accessible and inclusive community engagement in Southern California. Its exhibitions are the result of a years-long exchange and collaboration between staff at each institution. Thematically, the shows spotlight California’s unique artistic heritage, including myths, iconographies, and realities that have formed a regional identity and the state’s rich tradition of arts- based activism.

Local Access continues LACMA’s long history of working with communities to establish new channels for accessing artwork and programs, such as the museum’s gallery at Charles White Elementary School in MacArthur Park. Additional partnerships have been developed in Compton, East L.A., North Hollywood, South L.A., Van Nuys, Watts, and Willowbrook, with exhibitions that bring works from LACMA’s collection to these neighborhoods as well as ongoing public programs and resources.

Upcoming Exhibitions

Act on It! Artists, Community, and the Brockman Gallery in Los Angeles 

Launched by brothers Alonzo Davis and Dale Brockman Davis in the wake of the 1965 Watts Rebellion, the Brockman Gallery in South L.A. was central to the development of the Black Arts Movement in Los Angeles. Act on It! brings together works by artists who exhibited at the Brockman Gallery (1967–90), which served as a critical nexus for emerging artists of color and contributed to a growing network of Black-run spaces and collections. Through dozens of works in LACMA’s collection, the exhibition represents the aesthetic, political, and social statements encountered by Brockman Gallery visitors and underscores the reach and lasting significance of the Davis brothers’ project. Following its recent presentation at the Lancaster Museum of Art and History, Act on It! will be on view the Vincent Price Art Museum, September 27, 2025–January 18, 2026, and will then travel to the CSUDH University Art Gallery, February 15–June 7, 2026.

California Collectives: Asian American Moderns, 1924–1965 (working title) Debuting in 2026, California Collectives will bring together more than 50 paintings, drawings, watercolors, prints, and photographs by American artists of Asian descent. Drawing from LACMA’s collection and introducing a number of new acquisitions, the exhibition will examine how Asian American moderns across the Golden State created thriving networks of artistic exchange during the Exclusion Era (1882–1965), and how they leveraged that collectivity to assert their place in California’s art world.

*Exhibition dates are subject to change. Please visit the websites of each partner institution for the most up-to-date exhibition information.

New Museum Partners

About the Millard Sheets Art Center

Through exhibitions, educational programs, events, and workshops, the Millard Sheets Art Center provides the community with meaningful experiences within the world of visual arts. As part of the Fairplex Learning and Development Center, the gallery engages the community at multiple levels of education and its exhibitions promote the rich and diverse cultures that lie within L.A. County and Southern California. Fairplex.Com/Tlc-Msac.

About the California State University, Dominguez Hills University Art Gallery 

California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) cultivates an academic community committed to justice, equity, and inclusion—one that fosters a sense of belonging and advances social mobility for our graduates. The University Art Gallery serves the campus and broader community as a laboratory for contemporary art and design practices, presenting exhibitions and programming. The University Art Gallery is committed to building a creative and innovative art and design culture that celebrates artists and engages audiences. Gallery.Csudh.Edu.

About the Ontario Museum of History & Art

The Ontario Museum of History & Art is a facility of the City of Ontario’s Department of Museum, Arts & Culture. The Ontario Museum of History & Art preserves, interprets, and celebrates the history and cultural heritage of Ontario and the surrounding area. From developing exhibitions, to engaging visitors through educational experiences, and events that inspire creative action, the Museum is an anchor to the growing downtown arts district. In 2023, the Museum achieved accreditation by the American Alliance of Museums (AAM). The Museum is uniquely housed in Ontario’s former City Hall, a historical landmark funded by the Works Progress Administration. OntarioMuseum.org.

To learn more about LACMA’s Local Access partners visit Lacma.Org/CommunityPrograms/LocalAccess.

Credit: Act On It! Artists, Community, and the Brockman Gallery in Los Angeles was organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in collaboration with the Lancaster Museum of Art and History; Vincent Price Art Museum at East Los Angeles College; and California State University, Dominguez Hills University Art Gallery.