The number of empty storefronts lining Westwood streets seems to be at a constant high. But the Hammer Museum is trying to help revive Westwood, and the rest of the UCLA community can and should help support that effort by voting for its project online.
The Hammer Museum has entered a competition for a chance to earn $100,000 to curate what the museum calls a “pop-up village,” a project in which Los Angeles-based artists and vendors can temporarily populate vacant spaces.
The Goldhirsch Foundation’s My LA 2050 challenge is an effort to improve Los Angeles in eight areas, including arts and cultural vitality, education, environmental quality, health and public safety. The public votes for projects in each category to determine the finalists.
The foundation will consider the top 10 submissions in each category and will award $100,000 to one project in each category, plus two additional projects from any of the categories. The Hammer’s pop-up village project falls into the “Arts and Cultural Vitality” category.
It’s easy to blame the decline of Westwood businesses on a faltering economy or high rent, but this board believes the Hammer’s proposal is a reminder of the symbiotic relationship between the university and the Village. Such a pop-up village could help remind the people what it is like to be a vibrant cultural part of the city, the way Westwood was decades ago.
Students do not have the ability to directly grant $100,000 to the Hammer, but they can vote for the project and help the project’s chance of winning.
Right now, the project is purely a Hammer venture, but the museum will try to include students in the project moving forward, said Hammer spokeswoman Sarah Stifler.
If the Hammer does receive the necessary funds for this project, we hope the museum will broaden its efforts to include more members of the UCLA community, especially students. Students should not only be involved as on-campus ambassadors who can get the word out, but they should also participate in the planning phases, and even potentially be invited as some of the artists or vendors in the pop-up village.
This board hopes the Hammer’s pop-up village project will inspire students and other members of the UCLA community to become actively involved in helping Westwood once more become renowned as an innovative and cultural marker of the city.
Members of the UCLA community can vote for the Hammer project until noon on Wednesday at http://myla2050.maker.good.is/projects/Hammer_Museum.