Luncheon Reflections

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LIAH_Hawthorne_luncheonYou know, I never got around to mentioning here that I am now Director (co-directing with Louise Steinman who runs the ALOUD series) of the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities (LAIH), a wonderful organisation that I have mentioned here before. It is full of really fascinating people from a range of disciplines: writers, artists, historians, architects, musicians, critics, filmmakers, poets curators, museum directors, journalists, playwrights, scientists, actors, and much more. These LAIH Fellows are drawn from all over the city, and equally from academic and non-academic sources. The thing is, you’ll find us throughout the city involved in all sorts of aspects of its cultural and intellectual life, and LAIH is the one organisation in the city that tries to fully bring together this diverse range of individuals (all high-acheivers in their respective fields) into a coherent force.

One of the main things we do is simply sit together regularly and talk about whatever’s on our minds, stimulating and shaping ideas, getting updates on works in progress, making suggestions, connections, and so forth. Finding time in one’s schedule to just sit together and exchange ideas with no particular agenda is an important thing to do and we take it very seriously. We do this at the Fellow’s luncheon every fortnight, and we also have an invited talk, always on a fascinating topic, with a generous amount of time devoted to questions and answers at the end. It is a two-way process – the speakers usually come away with a lot to think about, just as the audience does from having listened. Many a work in progress has been significantly affected by those conversations and lively debates that result after a stimulating presentation of some ideas!

While keeping the core LAIH mission the same, I’ll be slowly making some changes in the organisation. I will be moving our luncheons around the city a bit more than we already do, exploring some of the wonderful spaces we have, such as more of the museums, cultural spaces old and new, and connect more with the public, organising and co-sponsoring some more public events. (We’re already heavily involved in various major events and initiatives you might know about: Count how very many of us are on panels during the LA Times Festival of Books; Look at the wonderful Los Angeles Review of Books, started by LAIH fellows and for which so many of us write; Look at the Categorically Not! series to which so many of us contribute, the Public Library ALOUD series, and so forth). But we’ve been tacit as an organisation, and while some of that quietness is important for creating a safe space to exchange ideas (for example at the luncheons) it is time to be a bit more visible in some of our operations, letting the general public know more about us and how we can be engaged with. I also hope to continue our efforts to strengthen our membership with new Fellows who value the connectivity and enrichment the LAIH brings. As I said in my opening address earlier in the Fall,

“…in large part we are an asset to the city, and I’d like to find more ways of strengthening the role that LAIH plays in the cultural life of the city. This includes increasing awareness of LAIH and its roles. We love the fact that the city is vibrant and ever-changing, and we need to be constantly renewing the ways we engage with the city if we are to be effective.”

So anyway, keep an eye out for more of our activity. Have a look at our website (which I am striving to improve – for example with information about future events), and look at our list of Fellows (you’ve probably read some of their writings, seen some of their films, gone to some of their shows, etc, especially if you’re in LA…), enjoy some of the information about past events, and engage with us on our new Facebook page (like us and please invite your friends to as well!)- you can see a stream on the website showing just a fraction of the activity our Fellows are up to.

Today’s luncheon was a typically excellent one. We had the fantastic Architecture critic of the LA Times, Christopher Hawthorne, talk to us about Los Angeles, past, present and future, in terms of how it works as a city, discussing living spaces, public spaces, private spaces, freeways, public transport, and much more. (See the photo above for a snap of some of the room.) It was a great talk, and the conversation (Q&A) we all had afterwards was great, and regrettably too short since there was so much to explore. Christopher plans a series of public conversations about some of the issues facing LA as a city as it moves forward and reimagines itself, and I spoke to him at the end about how we (LAIH) help with these conversations, so that we can all play a role in shaping the future City of Los Angeles.

Stay tuned.

-cvj

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