The California Arts Council has announced the 14 districts that will serve as California’s inaugural state-designated Cultural Districts, highlighting thriving cultural diversity and unique artistic identities within local communities across California. A Cultural District, as outlined by the program, is a well-defined geographic area with a high concentration of cultural resources and activities. Each of the 14 districts will receive the designation for a period of five years, per state legislation. Designation, under this pilot launch of the program, includes benefits such as technical assistance, peer-to-peer exchanges, and branding materials and promotional strategy. The Council has partnered with Visit California and Caltrans for strategic statewide marketing and resource support.
Little Tokyo in downtown Los Angeles has been designated a California Cultural District under this program. Little Tokyo spans traditional and contemporary artistic cultural spaces, with everything from anime shops to Little Tokyo’s First Street North, home to the nation’s longest-running Asian-American open mic and poetry venue, and featured on the National Registry of Historic Places and as a National Historic Landmark. The expanse of the 150-acre district includes the Japanese American National Museum, the David Henry Hwang Theater, the Hompa Hongwanji Buddhist Temple and The Geffen Contemporary at the Museum of Contemporary Art.
For more informtion about the California Cultural District program and Little Toky please visit https://www.caculturaldistricts.org/little-tokyo