April 2020 events calendar for Los Angeles
Plan your month with our April 2020 events calendar of the best activities, including free things to do, festivals and our favorite concerts
While all in-person events have been canceled and major venues closed through at least April 19, we’re recommending what Angelenos can do from home (or a couple of things outside—safely). Find more suggestions in our Time In guide.
T.S. Eliot may have believed April is the cruelest month, but Angelenos have plenty of reasons to sing its praises: Concerts and festivals in L.A. kick into high gear this month as the weather warms up. An inclusive picnic in a Downtown park, an open streets event by the beach and our favorite music festival in the desert all have a place in our April events calendar, much-needed rain showers be damned.
RECOMMENDED: Full events calendar for 2020
At Home with Gustavo
Disney Hall may be down for the moment, but LA Phil director Gustavo Dudamel is still sharing his favorite classical musical selections alongside some personal reflections with this radio series. You can tune in to KUSC (91.5 FM) and KDFC from Tuesday to Friday at 6pm, and a Spanish-language broadcast on Sunday at 7pm.
Levitt en Vivo
Levitt Pavilion has taken its MacArthur Park bandshell online with livestreaming performances from local bands every Wedneday afternoon. Find the shows streamed live on Instagram at @Levitt.LA and posted afterwards on Facebook @Levitt_LA.
Mindful Awareness Meditation
In the name of keeping Angelenos sane—and who couldn’t use some sanity right now?—the Hammer Museum holds free weekly drop-in sessions on mindful awareness, which is defined as “the moment-by-moment process of actively and openly observing one’s physical, mental and emotional experiences.” The 30-minute sessions were previously held on-site at the Hammer, but they’ve moved online for the forseeable future. If you can’t make it to each Zoom meeting on Thursdays at 12:30pm, you can listen to the archives. Sessions are led by instructors from the UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center. Think of them as your experts in stress reduction and overall health improvement.
Common Space Brewery Blood Drive
Hawthorne’s Common Space Brewery is using its sprawling space for a social-distancing–friendly blood drive. On both April 7 and 14, you can swing by (register beforehand if you can) to donate blood, and you’ll even nab a $5 Amazon gift card.
Going Pro Career Fair
Considering a future in professional theater? Center Theatre Group’s Going Pro Career Fair is hosting a virtual day of networking and workshops specifically tailored for undergrad and grad theater students studying theater (though the fair is open to all). RSVP by 5pm on Thursday, April 16 for more information about how to join.
Yoshitomo Nara
LACMA is assembling 30 years of works from the wildly popular Japanese artist (known for canvases of fiendish, wide-eyed children and animals) and examining them through the lens of his longtime passion for music.
Earth Day LA
Celebrate Earth Day at Grand Park, the Music Center and DWP with green living demos and activities. Tour Grand Park’s sustainable landscaping, demo electric vehicles, drop off e-waste and learn how to compost.
Our L.A. Voices: Spring Arts Festival
Celebrate the diversity of L.A.’s artists during the return of Grand Park’s Our L.A. Voices. The free two-day event includes a mix of performance and visual arts, including plays, live music and workshops.
Oscar Oiwa: Dreams of a Sleeping World
Find peace in chaotic dreamscapes at the premiere of this solo exhibition from Oscar Oiwa, which includes four large-scale surreal landscape paintings, plus an 800-square-foot site-specific mural, Dreams of a Sleeping World.
The Zone
It’s Britney, bitch, and she’s getting in on the pop-up game. “The Zone” recreates some of Britney Spears’s most memorable music video moments (think the locker room from “…Baby One More Time,” the Mars station from “Oops… I Did It Again” and the sleek airliner from “Toxic”) across 10 made-for-Instagram rooms. Is it just a wildly expensive photo op? Yes. Will you dance in the rainforest with a snake around your shoulders anyway? Yes.
Smorgasburg LA
Indulge your inner foodie and shopaholic at this weekly food-focused market. The Brooklyn export has landed in the Arts District and become a hotbed of fantastic food and retail vendors, with some that are testing out their dishes before launching a full-blown brick-and-mortar in the city. Bonus: there is plentiful (and free, for two hours!) parking in the nearby parking garage.
Cakeland: The Beauty War
A section of Chinatown’s Central Plaza is getting a subversively sweet makeover. Conceptual cake sculptor Scott Hove has taken over 943 Mei Ling Way and turned it into Cakeland, a gallery with floor-to-ceiling sculptures that look just like layer cakes. For “The Beauty War” exhibition, a labyrinth of mirror mazes and layer cakes will examine what Hove calls a light-versus-dark exploration of “the forces of beauty and the cycles of nature.” Hove isn’t actually laying down buttercream and fondant, instead he uses acrylic and poly foam to frost his sculptures by hand the same way you would a cake. The resulting creations—like one in DTLA a couple of years ago—look convincingly like cake, only with more disco balls and taxidermy fangs.
Parm Boyz Free Instagram Cooking Class
It'll be a bit before we can sit down to another IRL Parm Boyz pop-up, but at least this weekend, you can get some Sunday-gravy, Italian-American Parm Boyz comfort at home. The monthly red-sauce dinners can normally be found at Ronan (which is available for pickup and delivery, and makes some of the best pizza in town), but this Sunday the Parm Boyz are doing it digital with a free cooking class. They've even provided you with a shopping list to grab ingredients beforehand, so you can cook alongside the team. They'll be whipping up both their chicken parm and their eggplant parm over Instagram Live, and finishing it all off with a side of spaghetti—might we suggest some wine and a checkered tablecloth, for full effect? All you'll really need are the ingredients listed below, then simply tune in to Parm Boyz on Instagram at 6pm on Sunday and channel your inner nonna.
At Home with Gustavo
Disney Hall may be down for the moment, but LA Phil director Gustavo Dudamel is still sharing his favorite classical musical selections alongside some personal reflections with this radio series. You can tune in to KUSC (91.5 FM) and KDFC from Tuesday to Friday at 6pm, and a Spanish-language broadcast on Sunday at 7pm.
Street Food Cinema
For dinner and a movie, all in one, just follow the food trucks. During the spring, summer and fall, Street Food Cinema throws together a series of mostly outdoor parties that include screenings of some of our favorite movies, paired with an assortment of gourmet food trucks and even a live music performance from a cool local band. The screenings are held in venues across L.A., and alternate from week to week, so make sure to check the schedule. Some of the outdoor venues are dog-friendly, allowing you to bring your four-legged cinema lover along.
“Star Trek: Exploring New Worlds”
Space: the final frontier. This is the voyage of a traveling pop culture exhibition. Its latest mission: to stop by L.A.’s Skirball Cultural center. “Star Trek: Exploring New Worlds” is set to land at the Skirball in 2020 with a visual examination of the sci-fi franchise’s impact on culture, art and technology, as well as its futuristic vision of inclusiveness. Originally organized by the Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP), Seattle, “Exploring New Worlds” will feature over 100 artifacts, set pieces and props—from communicators to phasers to Borg cubes to tribbles—from the television series, spin-offs and films. Highlights include Captain Kirk’s command chair and the navigation console from Star Trek: The Original Series; costumes worn by Leonard Nimoy, Nichelle Nichols and Patrick Stewart (Spock, Uhura and and Picard, respectively); filming models of the U.S.S. Enterprise, U.S.S. Excelsior, U.S.S. Phoenix and Deep Space Nine space station; and a slew of pop culture ephemera exhibiting Star Trek’s spread into everything from sports to beer. Expect more details about the exhibition (including pricing and programming) to come out in March.
Mindful Awareness Meditation
In the name of keeping Angelenos sane—and who couldn’t use some sanity right now?—the Hammer Museum holds free weekly drop-in sessions on mindful awareness, which is defined as “the moment-by-moment process of actively and openly observing one’s physical, mental and emotional experiences.” The 30-minute sessions were previously held on-site at the Hammer, but they’ve moved online for the forseeable future. If you can’t make it to each Zoom meeting on Thursdays at 12:30pm, you can listen to the archives. Sessions are led by instructors from the UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center. Think of them as your experts in stress reduction and overall health improvement.
Oscar Oiwa: Dreams of a Sleeping World
Find peace in chaotic dreamscapes at the premiere of this solo exhibition from Oscar Oiwa, which includes four large-scale surreal landscape paintings, plus an 800-square-foot site-specific mural, Dreams of a Sleeping World. Using nothing more than a Sharpie (OK, actually about 120 of them), Oiwa and his four assistants have drawn dreamy illustrations onto the side of an inflated, white nylon dome at Pasadena’s USC Pacific Asia Museum (it took them about two weeks to finish the work). Once inside the small upstairs gallery, you’ll be greeted by Oiwa’s landscape paintings. But we think most visitors will want to make a beeline for Dreams of a Sleeping World. You’ll need to take your shoes off or cover them with provided booties, as the interior of the dome is a bit delicate. The museum says it’ll allow 10 visitors inside at once and, unlike the Broad’s Infinity Rooms, they’re not really in a hurry to kick you out; if there’s a line forming, your time inside will be capped at a generous 10 minutes. Oh, and you’re absolutely welcome—in fact, even encouraged—to lay on the bed in the middle of the dome and take it all in. There’s no additional cost to see the exhibition, and it and the rest of the museum are free to visit on Thursdays from 5 to 8pm and on the second Sunday of the month. This dreamy dome is decorated entirely using markers You can see it for free on Thursday nights. Find out more here: http://bit.ly/36Asmbf Posted by Time Out Los Angeles on Thursday, January 9,
Pearl Jam
The steadiest and sturdiest of the great Seattle grunge titans—the only one that hasn't lost a key member or taken an extended hiatus—rumbles into town for two stadium gigs. Expect to hear raucous newer tunes (the band is releasing a new album, Gigaton) as well as selections spanning a vast catalog that’s far more compelling than the band’s vocal haters would care to admit.
“Julie Mehretu”
A co-presentation with New York’s Whitney Museum of American Art, LACMA takes a first-ever mid-career look at the Ethiopian-American artist’s striking large-scale abstractions, with 35 paintings and 40 works on paper. Active since the mid-’90s, Mehretu uses ink and paint to create captivating and chaotic scenes that capture the—often unforgiving—march of geopolitics and displacement through abstraction, architecture, landscape, movement and figuration. Mehretu’s massive canvases (the paintings in a series on the spacious first floor stretch the height of the wall) are packed with tiny details that, even if they disappear from afar, create a sense of movement and energy that radiates from within the paintings. Colorful shapes and quick strokes swirl together to conjure mini worlds that compress both time and space. Mehretu often incorporates line drawings of buildings, both past and present, in her canvases—in Berliner Plätze the ghosts of buildings bombed during World War II rise together in a hazy town square, while the bowl-shaped Stadia II, with its flag-like adornments, seems to conjure an Olympic stadium and a Roman colosseum. Mehretu usually doesn’t directly depict political movements and societal shifts, but her works evoke the attitudes of the time they were painted, whether during the War on Terror or the Arab Spring. Mehretu’s most recent works, though, do correspond a bit more directly with history; the hot, ashen chaos of Hineni (3:4) is built atop a blurred photo
Pearl Jam
The steadiest and sturdiest of the great Seattle grunge titans—the only one that hasn't lost a key member or taken an extended hiatus—rumbles into town for two stadium gigs. Expect to hear raucous newer tunes (the band is releasing a new album, Gigaton) as well as selections spanning a vast catalog that’s far more compelling than the band’s vocal haters would care to admit.
Hamilton
Due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, all performances this March have been canceled. You can keep up with more local event cancelations here. L.A. once again gets its shot at Broadway’s hottest ticket, Hamilton. The hip-hop historical hootenanny by Lin-Manuel Miranda (everything winner for In the Heights) uses several musical genres to craft a totally unexpected look at the Founding Fathers and the creation of America… though Miranda has said, “We take it as a given that hip hop is the music of the Revolution.” There’s British pop (for King George), soul, modern girl-group groove and a full-on rap smackdown about the role of the federal government between the first secretary of the treasury (Alexander Hamilton) and Thomas Jefferson himself.
Netflix is a Joke Fest
Due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, this event has been postponed. You can keep up with more local event cancelations here. Netflix’s stand-up specials keep us cackling at home, but the streaming service’s ambitious new comedy festival and is lineup is nothing to laugh at. Clocking in at more than 100 shows spread across Los Angeles in the span of one week, the Netflix Is A Joke Fest is bringing some of the world’s top comedians—including Ali Wong, Dave Chappelle, Hannah Gadsby, Jerry Seinfeld and Whoopi Goldberg—to L.A. venues of all sizes.
Power to the People!
It’s been a mainstay of protest signs, songs and chants, but this spring the “power to the people” refrain will fill the Walt Disney Concert Hall. Gustavo Dudamel and Herbie Hancock are bringing together musicians, artists and activists for a series of shows between March 5 and April 11 that celebrate solidarity and humanitarian spirit. Programs include sets from Dudamel and the LA Phil, Hancock and Patti Smith, a talk from Dr. Angela Davis about social change, the movie music of Spike Lee and his go-to composer Terence Blanchard and more.
Billie Eilish
The pop wunderkind behind kinda-dark chart hits “When the Party’s Over” and “Come Out and Play” galvanizes her rise with a duo of dates at the Forum.
Live Talks Los Angeles
L.A.’s star-studded lecture series has outdone itself this season with a lineup of writers, artists, performers, scientists and business leaders, who, for as little as $20 per Live Talk, will graciously blow your mind. Venues around the city will host guest speakers to tickle a variety of Angeleno brains—from those interested in technology to those who fancy literature. Check the Live Talks website for individual event details, and snag your tickets before word spreads.
Common Space Brewery Blood Drive
Hawthorne’s Common Space Brewery is using its sprawling space for a social-distancing–friendly blood drive. On both April 7 and 14, you can swing by (register beforehand if you can) to donate blood, and you’ll even nab a $5 Amazon gift card.
The Art of the Brick
Budding engineers and artists will be equally enthralled by the masterpieces Nathan Sawaya has intricately crafted with over 1,000,000 toy blocks. (No, that number is not a typo.) Visitors who love dinosaur activities will gawk at the artist’s 20-foot T. Rex, which is comprised of over 80,000 pieces alone. Creative youngsters will enjoy Sawaya’s recreation of Van Gogh’s Starry Night and Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, along with the exhibit’s interactive elements, as well.
Kaytranada
Montreal producer Kaytranada has risen to prominence over the past few years via an unrelenting series of slam-dunk remixes of tracks by everyone from Janet Jackson to Azealia Banks. His woozy, electronic take on R&B—spliced with samples, spacey electronica and chunky beats—is almost absurdly on-point, so this should be a fine show.
South Park: Cartman’s Escape Room
Come on down to the Glendale Galleria and try to escape the foul-mouthed fourth graders’ least favorite spot—the classroom—in this official South Park-inspired escape room.
Smorgasburg LA
Indulge your inner foodie and shopaholic at this weekly food-focused market. The Brooklyn export has landed in the Arts District and become a hotbed of fantastic food and retail vendors, with some that are testing out their dishes before launching a full-blown brick-and-mortar in the city. Bonus: there is plentiful (and free, for two hours!) parking in the nearby parking garage.
Parm Boyz Free Instagram Cooking Class
It'll be a bit before we can sit down to another IRL Parm Boyz pop-up, but at least this weekend, you can get some Sunday-gravy, Italian-American Parm Boyz comfort at home. The monthly red-sauce dinners can normally be found at Ronan (which is available for pickup and delivery, and makes some of the best pizza in town), but this Sunday the Parm Boyz are doing it digital with a free cooking class. They've even provided you with a shopping list to grab ingredients beforehand, so you can cook alongside the team. They'll be whipping up both their chicken parm and their eggplant parm over Instagram Live, and finishing it all off with a side of spaghetti—might we suggest some wine and a checkered tablecloth, for full effect? All you'll really need are the ingredients listed below, then simply tune in to Parm Boyz on Instagram at 6pm on Sunday and channel your inner nonna.
“With Pleasure: Pattern and Decoration in American Art 1972–1985”
See colorful, abstract and pattern-driven works of painting, sculpture, collage, ceramics, installation art and performance documentation in this survey of the Pattern and Decoration movement, which defiantly embraced forms typically held to be inferior to “fine art.”
At Home with Gustavo
Disney Hall may be down for the moment, but LA Phil director Gustavo Dudamel is still sharing his favorite classical musical selections alongside some personal reflections with this radio series. You can tune in to KUSC (91.5 FM) and KDFC from Tuesday to Friday at 6pm, and a Spanish-language broadcast on Sunday at 7pm.
Mindful Awareness Meditation
In the name of keeping Angelenos sane—and who couldn’t use some sanity right now?—the Hammer Museum holds free weekly drop-in sessions on mindful awareness, which is defined as “the moment-by-moment process of actively and openly observing one’s physical, mental and emotional experiences.” The 30-minute sessions were previously held on-site at the Hammer, but they’ve moved online for the forseeable future. If you can’t make it to each Zoom meeting on Thursdays at 12:30pm, you can listen to the archives. Sessions are led by instructors from the UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center. Think of them as your experts in stress reduction and overall health improvement.
Grammy Museum at Home
The Grammy Museum routinely hosts some stellar talks and performances—but there’s a good chance you’ve never been able to scoop up tickets before these intimate events sell out. But now we can all partake thanks to the institution’s Museum at Home site. Every couple of days, you can look forward to conversations with and performances from the likes of Billie Eilish, Greta Van Fleet, Andrea Bocelli, Common, Los Tigres del Norte, Courtney Barnett, Ben Platt and more. Plus, each week the museum is reviving some of its former exhibitions online, including retrospectives on Jenni Rivera, Whitney Houston, Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald.
Vanity Fair: Hollywood Calling
Due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, the museum has pledged to practice social distancing and close through March. You can keep up with more local event cancelations here. Just in time for Oscar weekend, the Annenberg is looking back at four decades of Vanity Fair’s celebrity portraits, including shots from every edition of the Hollywood issue as well as the annual Oscar night party.
Our L.A. Voices: Spring Arts Festival
Celebrate the diversity of L.A.’s artists during the return of Grand Park’s Our L.A. Voices. The free two-day event includes a mix of performance and visual arts, including plays, live music and workshops.
All of Them Witches
Hollywood’s Jeffrey Deitch gallery has organized an exhibition of artists and works that it’s dubbed as “witchy”—as they put it, using the iconography of the supernatural, occult and witchcraft to channel ideas about power, the body and gender.
Barnsdall Arts Sundays
the Barnsdall Art Park Foundation and the Junior Arts Center will be offering free family art workshops every Sunday (10am–noon) via Zoom though the end of May. Keep up with the park’s Instagram account (@barnsdallpark) for info to join each event.
TCM Classic Film Festival
This must-visit for classic film buffs showcases four days of beloved movies—from the iconic to forgotten gems—courtesy of Turner Classic Movies. While typically you could see these time-honored favorites on the big screen, the way they were meant to be seen, this year’s festival has had to move online. From April 16 to 19, you can tune in to the cable network for a slate of TCM Classic Film Festival favorites, as well as some event highlights from the past decades. The on-air schedule includes Metropolis, A Hard Day’s Night, North by Northwest, Some Like it Hot, Deliverance, Grey Gardens, Network, Casablanca, Lawrence of Arabia, Singin’ in the Rain, Victor/Victoria and more.