18th Street Arts Center

18th Street Arts Center focuses on contemporary art across media, with an emphasis on process-based, research-driven, and community-rooted projects by local and international artists in residence. Programmes often include studio presentations, commissioned Artist Lab projects, and public events that explore social, political, and cultural questions. Recent exhibitions include Karla Diaz: Wait ’til Your Mother Gets Home (17 February–22 June 2024) at 18th Street Arts Center’s Airport Campus, the artist’s first solo exhibition in the Los Angeles area, and community festivals such as the Pico Block Party, a free, family-friendly event featuring youth-led art activities, open studios, exhibitions, and workshops created with neighbourhood partners.

18th Street Arts Center’s mission is to provoke public dialogue through contemporary art making, grounded in the belief that art is essential to a vibrant, just, and healthy society. The organisation values creative action as vital to individual wellbeing and sees its role as supporting artists whose work contributes to social transformation and cultural exchange.

18th Street Arts Center runs several residency strands with different selection methods. Its visiting artist programme combines invited participants with artists selected through an open application process that is open to artists of all generations, nationalities, and disciplines, including visual and performing artists as well as curators, writers, and musicians. Mid-term residencies provide subsidised live/work or day studios for local artists for one to three years and are filled through an application process when spaces become available. Long-term ‘anchor tenant’ residencies for individual artists and arts organisations are by invitation and help define the centre’s character through programmatic partnerships and community-building.

18th Street Arts Center was founded in 1988 in Santa Monica by artist and publisher Susanna Bixby Dakin and writer and arts organiser Linda Frye Burnham. Both had previously been involved with feminist and socially engaged art communities in Los Angeles, and their experience with projects such as High Performance magazine helped shape the center’s focus on experimental, community-oriented contemporary art.

18th Street Arts Center is a non-profit organisation funded through a mix of contributed and earned income. Its IRS filings show that most of the annual revenue comes from contributions— including grants from public funders such as the California Arts Council and foundations like the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts—alongside individual donations and memberships. Additional income is generated through programme and residency fees, studio rentals, and other programme services, which together make up a significant secondary share of revenue each year.projects.

Admission to 18th Street Arts Center’s exhibitions and many public programmes is often free, reflecting its commitment to broad public access to contemporary art. Some special events or workshops may require advance registration or tickets, so checking specific event details in advance is recommended.