Filmmaker George Lucas has chosen L.A. over San Francisco to house his $1 billion museum, The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art.
The new museum will showcase artefects from the Star Wars creator’s personal collection. These will include memorabilia from Star Wars and other films together with vintage photographs and traditional paintings. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti says the museum is planning to open on May 4th, 2020.
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art
The museum’s board of directors said, “After extensive due diligence and deliberation, the Board of Directors of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art is pleased to announce plans to build the museum in Exposition Park in Los Angeles.
“We have been humbled by the overwhelmingly positive support we received from both San Francisco and Los Angeles during our selection process. Settling on a location proved to be an extremely difficult decision precisely because of the desirability of both sites and cities.”
George Lucas was previously considering two designs for his planned Museum of Narrative Art. One was for Los Angeles’ Exposition Park. The other was a similar proposal but for San Francisco’s Treasure Island. Chicago was also looked at, but local opposition meant the plan was scrapped last summer.
The Vision of George Lucas
Mayor Garcetti thanked George Lucas and his wife, Mellody Hobson, for opting for Los Angeles. “They have a vision that museums should not be foreboding places, but should be welcoming, ” he said.
He also added, perhaps with a raised eyebrow, “this is not a Star Wars museum.”
“This is a collection of narrative art in a city that has the best storytellers and storymakers in the world. The best collection of Norman Rockwell paintings on Earth. Works from R. Crumb.”
In addition, the Mayor mentioned Jeffrey Katzenberg. Katzenberg had “relentlessly pushed” for the museum to come to L.A. Los Angeles County Museum of Art director Michael Govan had also been influential in LA’s lobbying.
“‘Do or do not — there is no try, ‘” Garcetti said, quoting Star wars chracter Yoda. “Today, we did it.”
The museum’s space-age design is by Chinese architect Ma Yansong. The museum’s backers estimate it will bring 1, 500 construction jobs to LA together with an extra 350 permanent roles at the museum.
Images Lucas Museum of Narrative Art.
