George Lucas’ New L.A. Museum Will Offer Free Annual Passes to South L.A. Neighbors

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Jul 13

**VIA The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art**

The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art will open Sept. 22 in Exposition Park and give residents of the surrounding 90037 ZIP code early access and renewable free annual passes.

George Lucas’ long-awaited Los Angeles museum is making sure its closest neighbors get through the doors first.

The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, which opens to the public Sept. 22 in Exposition Park, will offer free annual passes and an early preview to residents of South L.A.’s 90037 ZIP code. The $1 billion, 300,000-square-foot museum from Lucas and Mellody Hobson will sit within one of the city’s most culturally significant public spaces, near the California Science Center and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.

The initiative is designed to give the surrounding community direct access to an institution that has been under construction in their neighborhood for years. Museum CEO Tracey Bates said the goal is to make sure the residents who have watched the project rise from the ground up are among the first to experience it. The renewable pass program will allow holders to reserve a pair of tickets.

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The 90037 ZIP code covers roughly three square miles and includes more than 17,000 households. The area is predominantly Hispanic and African American, and census data shows that about a quarter of residents live below the poverty line. That context makes the museum’s free-access program especially notable, as major cultural institutions often face scrutiny over how they serve the communities that surround them.

The Lucas Museum’s futuristic building, designed by Ma Yansong, will feature more than 1,300 objects on display. The campus will also include 11 acres of landscaped space designed by Mia Lehrer, whose work includes SoFi Stadium. Bates described the museum’s gardens and public spaces as a new backyard for the local community, emphasizing that the institution wants to give residents reasons to visit beyond the galleries themselves.

The museum’s collection will draw heavily from Lucas’ holdings, including original Lucasfilm archives he retained after selling the company to Disney in 2012. The broader collection spans popular art, fine art, illustration, comics and cinematic storytelling, with works connected to figures including Norman Rockwell, Jack Kirby, Robert Crumb, Frida Kahlo and Los Angeles artist Judith Baca, best known for her monumental history mural along the Los Angeles River.

The museum has also released a new video preview offering a closer look at the building and its mission ahead of opening day. The footage highlights the scale of the Exposition Park campus, the museum’s futuristic design and its focus on narrative art across film, comics, illustration, fine art and popular culture.

The Lucas Museum arrives during a busy period for Los Angeles’ cultural landscape. Its opening follows the April debut of LACMA’s David Geffen Galleries and comes as the La Brea Tar Pits and Museum is closed for renovations.

For South L.A., the museum’s arrival is more than another high-profile addition to Exposition Park. By offering free passes to nearby residents, the Lucas Museum is making an early statement about access, visibility and the role a billion-dollar institution can play in the neighborhood it calls home.