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Organizing Your Culture with Curate LA

With a few scrolls and swipes the entire LA art scene just got a lot easier.

Los Angeles is a massively, endless expanse of a city with a sprawling, continuously evolving cultural landscape. There is a wealth of art being produced and exhibited between galleries of Culver City, Santa Monica's Bergamot Station, the Downtown Arts District. With the greater LA area totaling a frightening 503 square miles, and its close to four million inhabitants, sometimes it’s hard to find the creative capitals.

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Started by Shelley Holcomb and Alex Benzer, Curate LA is a new digital platform and iPhone app with the sole intention to inform, list, and categorize the LA art scene. Together, they started building the site in mid-2014 and it was made public last fall. “When it went live, we were excited by how quickly word got around and how many events were submitted by the community,“ says Holcomb. In their words the site provides “a way for the LA art community to grow as an international art capital.” Finally, the site can put an end to FOMO.

“LA is such a sprawling city with so many great cultural things happening every day, decoding and navigating it all can be overwhelming and intimidating for most people. We decided to create the map to solve that problem and to show the world the incredible diversity of LA’s culture.” Holcomb explains, “Alex and I also felt that the other LA art guides were too “safe” and excluded anything that might fall more on the emerging or fringe side, like all the newer but lesser-known galleries and ‘alt spaces.’ We want everyone to be able to discover and enjoy great art, and we want the artistic community here to be able to see its whole self.”

As an interactive source, Curate LA allows viewers access to the LA art world with just a few quick scrolls and swipes. Online, their user friendly Google map displays color-coded listings to separate galleries from museum shows, alternative spaces, art fairs and general artsy events. They list nightly openings, as well as ongoing exhibitions.

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“We focus our coverage to the Greater Los Angeles area, but occasionally we allow institutions in places like Palm Springs, Santa Barbara, and Lancaster to list events too.” The site has changed the game for creative enthusiasts looking for art happenings. “We’re working on improving the map and building other apps and tools to connect LA’s art community even more deeply. We’re also building a small team to produce events and expand on our original content in the coming year,” says Benzer.

In a city whose decentralized creative scene is constantly shifting, and in an era where information is at an all time high, having access to the content Curate LA is providing is a mandatory shift. According to Holcomb and Benzer, “We know what kind of art you’re into and that you like going to exhibits, galleries, lectures and museums. And so do we. To be even closer to you, we just launched the CURATE LA APP connecting the artistic community of Los Angeles. We are always there for you on your phone when you need us, we are just one tap away….that’s true love.”

Learn more about Curate LA and the app by clicking here.

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