Long Beach Art Museums To Participate In Getty Exhibit

3:30pm | One day after the City Council approved a six-step Arts Initiative to assist the creative community, the City of Long Beach today officially announced grants from the Getty Foundation in Los Angeles that will be awarded to three Long Beach museums, which the lbpost.com first reported exactly one month ago.

The Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA), Long Beach Museum of Art (LBMA) and University Art Museum (UAM) at Cal State Long Beach will all be awarded grants to participate in an arts project involving art museums throughout all of Southern California.

The exhibit, Pacific Standard Time: Art In L.A. 1945-1980, is expected to draw large crowds when it opens in Fall 2011.

“Pacific Standard Time will celebrate Southern California’s history of post war art and I’m delighted that our Long Beach museums are playing a key role in what will be a major international cultural event,” said Mayor Bob Foster, in a press release. 

As we reported in early February, MOLAA will receive $100,000 to host an exhibit entitled MEX/LA: The Legacy of Mexican Modernism in Los Angeles.

“Long Beach played an enormously important role in what was one of the most exciting and vibrant periods of modern American art,” said Melissa Abraham of the Getty Foundation.

Could the massive exhibit and name recognition of the Getty draw large crowds to Long Beach museums? Officials think so.

“This really is a major cultural tourism event,” said Steve Goodling, CEO of the Long Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau.