Arts Party Forever at The Hammer

Hammer Museum turned its annual Arts Party into a college-student-only takeover on Friday, April 24, reopening at 7 p.m. in Westwood after closing to the public an hour earlier. (hammer.ucla.edu 1) (hammer.ucla.edu 2) Arts Party: Forever ran from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. and was free, but entry required a valid student ID. The museum said advance RSVPs did not guarantee admission because entry was first come, first served. (hammer.ucla.edu) The lineup mixed music, art-making, and gallery access instead of a standard museum night. Hammer listed live performances by Destin Conrad and wemogura, plus workshops led by Cayetano Talavera, LA Zine Fest, and Hammer Student Educators. (hammer.ucla.edu) Five exhibitions were on view during the party, including *Several Eternities in a Day: Form in the Age of Living Materials*, *SPACE IS THE PLACE: Selections from the Hammer Contemporary Collection*, and *Five Centuries of Works on Paper: The Grunwald Center at 70 – Part II*. (hammer.ucla.edu 1) (hammer.ucla.edu 2) The event was built for Southern California college students, not the museum’s general Friday audience. Hammer said the program is organized by the Hammer Student Association in collaboration with the UCLA Campus Events Commission. (hammer.ucla.edu) That student group is made up of UCLA students working across the museum, and the museum said its mission for Arts Party is to connect student audiences with the Hammer through art and music. (hammer.ucla.edu) The museum’s broader setup helps explain the format. General admission at the Hammer is free year-round, and the building sits at Wilshire and Westwood in Westwood Village, with Metro service running until 2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. (hammer.ucla.edu) The party also added food trucks, a photo booth, snacks, swag, and a cash bar, turning the galleries into a campus social event as much as an exhibition visit. (hammer.ucla.edu) By Sunday, April 26, the event had already passed, and the museum’s homepage was carrying it as a completed program while warning visitors about West Los Angeles CicLAvia street closures. (hammer.ucla.edu) (hammer.ucla.edu) Arts Party: Forever was a three-hour test of how a free museum can hand the building to students for one night and still make the galleries the main draw. (hammer.ucla.edu)