The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and gallerist Jeffrey Deitch are organizing a massive art parade down Wilshire Boulevard on Saturday, featuring 1,400 participants including painters, performers, dancers, and students. The procession will include giant helium balloons, marching bands, a 1959 Cadillac, and works like Shepard Fairey-inspired banners and performance artist Amy Kaps wrapping herself in the U.S. Constitution. The parade caps LACMA's all-day Block Party celebrating the opening of the David Geffen Galleries, with free admission, food, and music by Flying Lotus and DJ Harvey. The event fulfills director Michael Govan's promise to close Wilshire Boulevard for a party after construction.
This parade matters because it reimagines the museum's role as a public gathering space—a "living room" for Los Angeles—and demonstrates how cultural institutions can engage diverse communities through spectacle and participation. Deitch, who previously staged similar parades in New York's SoHo, sees this as a dry run for a larger event tied to the 2028 Olympics. The parade also highlights LACMA's commitment to blending high art with street culture, featuring 145 projects selected from 400 submissions, all human-powered, and ranging from personal altars to whimsical costumes.