Members of AAJA-LA joined with members of the Los Angeles chapter of AMEJA — the Arab and Middle Eastern Journalists Assn. — on Saturday, May 23, for an inside look at the Los Angeles County Museum of Arts’ new curvy building spanning Wilshire Boulevard.
The David Geffen Galleries, now the museum’s home for its permanent collection, officially opened to the public in early May. Our chapter members joined fellow journalists and media professionals for a roughly 90-minute tour led by Linda Komaroff, LACMA’s curator of Islamic art and the head of the Art of the Middle East department.
Komaroff introduced the group to pieces that included an 18th century reception room from Damascus, luxury pieces from the Ottoman Empire and a curtain from the interior of the Kaaba mosque in Islam’s holiest city, Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
After the tour, some members visited the building’s newly installed Erewhon Cafe at LACMA or took a ride on L.A. County Metro’s spanking-clean new D Line, whose Wilshire/Fairfax Station is just across the street from the museum.
Pro tip: Working journalists can contact LACMA’s communications team (press@lacma.org) to arrange for free admission to the new galleries.
A big thanks to our friends at AMEJA, especially co-founder Mahdis Keshavarz, for including AAJA-LA members in this special outing. We appreciate the opportunity to build bridges between our organizations and hope to offer more joint networking and cultural opportunities.
— Rubaina Azhar, AAJA-LA board member
