The Larger Costs of Closing a Local Museum During Coronavirus

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Robin Pogrebin

The family of Noah Davis, a founder of the Underground Museum, with museum staff and board members at the opening of Davis’s exhibition at David Zwirner Gallery in January. Karon Davis, a co-founder, is at left, seated, with necklace. Kahlil Joseph, the filmmaker, is in back row, with hat. Credit: Brigitte Lacombe

LOS ANGELES — As cultural institutions all over the world wrestle with how to bring art to the public during the pandemic, smaller ones like the Underground Museum are also trying to figure out how to continue serving communities that have come to rely on them in other ways. The low-slung building on Washington Boulevard here might seem like a nondescript storefront sandwiched between a carpet installation business and a lawn mower repair shop. But in the eight years since it was founded, the Underground Museum has become not only one of the most important destinations for black art in the country but also a crucial gathering place for its working class Arlington Heights neighborhood — with a bookstore featuring works by black writers, poetry readings in the wooden bar and events in its back garden including free meditation, yoga and movie screenings. [More]