By The Museum of Latin American Art’s 20th anniversary invited guests to step into a historical storybook of the museum’s humble beginnings rooted in silent film and roller skates.
MOLAA was filled with a plethora of pieces both familiar and unfamiliar to the museum’s walls. The pieces varied from light-up photographs depicting a man’s road trip across Cuba in 1996 entitled “9 Windows” to an all-white room that screened silent films.
Susan Golden, director of public relations and media for MOLAA, said that the event displayed the entirety of the museum’s permanent collection, which isn’t always available for viewers. Even Golden herself had not seen every piece prior to the museum’s anniversary.
“A lot of the times, the bulk of the collection is in storage because of traveling collections that we’ve had. This year, for the entire year, we’re going to be featuring 20 years of our collection,” Golden said.
The collection includes over 1,600 pieces from over 20 different countries.
“This is a great opportunity in celebration of our 20th anniversary to basically display to the public two decades of collecting modern and contemporary art,” Golden said.
But MOLAA doesn’t believe their history started 20 years ago.
Before the Golden Age of Hollywood, the building that houses the museum once produced iconic silent films for the Balboa Amusement Producing Company. In the late 1920s, the building’s story changed again when the films were silenced for good and replaced with a roller skating rink called Hippodrome.
Since then, MOLAA has hosted multiple events that sought to bring the Long Beach community closer to the arts. According to Golden, MOLAA offers many workshops and museum tours for youth in response to statewide budget cuts for the arts. The Summer Art & Culture Camp offers youth ages 6-12 an opportunity to learn about fine arts, recreational activities and forms of language.
The exhibit “MOLAA at 20” is open year-round, and MOLAA offers free admittance to the museum on Sundays.
