People come to LA mainly for two reasons, the weather and the movies, and sometimes it's just the movies. Hollywood is, after all, where the industry took hold and flourished, so why shouldn't LA have a motion picture museum?
Well, we don't. Not yet anyway.
But now the LA County Museum of Art and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have agreed to start working on turning the historic May Co. building at the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue, which is currently known as LACMA West, into the new academy museum.
"What actually will be in the museum itself will be ever evolving," said Dawn Hudson, CEO, Academy of Motion Pictures. "The world of film is so different now than it was 100 years ago, 50 years ago, three years ago."
The agreement is a huge undertaking for the museum which will begin fundraising efforts. As for LACMA, leasing out the May Co. building to the academy is a win win.
"If we can have the world class film museum that only the Academy can make, next to a world class art museum with a whole history of art, I think the world will get the point," said Michael Govan, LACMA Director, and CEO.
For the academy it will finally be a chance to celebrate in a permanent space, all of the crafts that go into the art form.
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"We're looking forward to showing the world just what we have, and who we are," said Tom Sherak, President of the Academy of Motion Pictures. "It's more than just movies. The movie is a big part, but it's the craft that makes up the movies.
There's no date set yet for the museum's completion.
