The California Heritage Museum’s programming is as diverse as the communities it serves. Each exhibition is a singular event with its own universe of meaning, history, and audience — and we design outreach strategies to match.
Our exhibition roster speaks for itself. Arte Chicano Hecho En Los Angeles traces five decades of Chicano art’s origins and evolution in L.A. County. Michael C. Thorpe – Quilts & the Celebration of a Black Life explores quilting as an intergenerational art form connecting the artist to both his New England heritage and the renowned Gee’s Bend community of African American quilters in Alabama. A recent “Black Lives Matter” quilt exhibition featured celebrated Oakland artist Alice Beasley. Collaborative exhibitions curated by Santa Monica LGBTQ+ activist and historian Lou D’Elia have spotlighted underrepresented voices, while a painting retrospective by Thai-American artist Suong Yangchareon has broadened our representation of Asian artists. Traditional Mexican folk art exhibitions honor the profound influence of Mexican culture on Southern California life.
Our Young Women in the Arts program — now adopted as an extracurricular by seven local high schools — encourages students, parents, and educators to embrace the arts as a lifelong pursuit, not merely a school subject. K–12 students, college groups, and history organizations regularly visit under the guidance of docents trained to tailor programming to each audience’s age and interest level.
Watercolor exhibitions have earned national critical acclaim, and the Museum has produced ten hardcover books distributed internationally through Schiffer Publishing and Amazon — extending our reach far beyond Santa Monica.
Each show demands creative outreach: tattoo exhibitions bring us to gyms; quilt shows connect us to quilting guilds and fabric stores; Spanish-language exhibitions engage Univision and bilingual community partners. Our audience has no single face — and that is precisely the point.