Lucas Museum opens in Exposition Park with stories beyond Star Wars

The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art opened to the public in Los Angeles’s Exposition Park on September 22, giving visitors access to a new museum devoted to visual storytelling across art and film. Its galleries reach beyond George Lucas’s Star Wars films to illustration, painting, comics, photography and murals, making the opening a new option for people visiting the park’s cultural institutions.

Lucas and Mellody Hobson co-founded the museum. The museum says its 300,000-square-foot building holds more than 100,000 square feet of gallery space and over 30 galleries. LAist and the Los Angeles Times both reported from the public opening, describing visitors moving through the building and encountering a collection broader than the film franchise many associate with Lucas.

What is on view

The museum says its inaugural exhibitions draw more than 1,300 works from its collection. Its announced holdings include art associated with Artemisia Gentileschi, Norman Rockwell, Frida Kahlo, Robert Colescott, Frank Frazetta and Robert Crumb, as well as film materials from the Lucas Archives covering 1971 to 2012. Those names indicate the breadth of the collection; visitors should check the current exhibitions for the works on display during a particular visit.

The Los Angeles Times described opening-day visitors finding illustration, animation, comics and film alongside Star Wars artifacts. Museum leaders have said those artifacts occupy about 7% of its gallery space, according to the newspaper. A visit organized solely around the films would therefore miss much of the museum’s stated purpose: bringing images used to tell stories into the same institution.

The cinema material remains a draw. LAist spoke with film students from Lucas’s alma mater, USC, who were looking at concept art and its development into finished screen images. One student, Kc Donaldson-Werblin, described a story in that creative process itself. The Times reported that a Naboo N-1 Starfighter hangs above the education lobby, bringing a familiar film object into the wider museum setting.

First reactions and a South L.A. setting

Opening-day responses were varied. Keenan Wayne Jones Jr., a career-services director at Otis College of Art and Design, told LAist that students around him were enthralled and that he intended to return. The Los Angeles Times interviewed Exposition Park native Marc Downing, who said he was proud to see the museum in the neighborhood where he grew up. These are individual reactions, rather than a measure of how the museum will be received over time.

The Times also reported admiration for the building alongside requests for clearer gallery context. Visitor Janet Jacobs told the newspaper she wished some works had more explanation, including for younger members of her family unfamiliar with an artist she recognized. That criticism matters at a museum asking people to move among many media and periods: how much background the galleries provide can shape what visitors take from the art.

At the opening press event, Hobson described the museum as a gift and said, ‘it belongs to all of us,’ LAist reported. The Times said the first 100 visitors included students from USC, Los Angeles Technology Center, Otis College of Art and Design, and Los Angeles City College, who received free tickets. Those opening-day gestures show whom the founders sought to welcome; they do not establish lasting access or community impact.

The building was designed by Ma Yansong of MAD with Stantec, according to the museum, and stands on a 13-acre campus with park and gardens designed by Mia Lehrer of Studio-MLA. LAist reported that the Exposition Park site was chosen in 2017 after an earlier plan for Chicago fell away. Museum officials cited nearby schools and residents as reasons for the Los Angeles location, placing the project within an existing South L.A. community as well as a destination for visitors.

Planning a visit

The museum is at One Lucas Plaza in Exposition Park. Its published visit information lists adult tickets at $25 and tickets for visitors aged 65 and older at $21. Children aged 17 and under, members, active-duty military personnel and LM37 passholders are listed for free admission. The museum says everyone, including members and accompanying children, must reserve a timed-entry ticket in advance; that ticket covers galleries, exhibitions and theaters.

Published hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday; 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday; 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday; and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. The museum lists Tuesday as closed and last entry as 45 minutes before closing. Its park and gardens are listed as open from 8 a.m. until sunset. Visitors should check the museum’s current booking information for the date they want: availability for a particular time was not established in the published reports reviewed here.

The museum says its research library is free to use and closes one hour before the museum. It also lists a store, café and Skywalker Grill that do not require a museum ticket, although access to the campus without a timed ticket or restaurant reservation depends on capacity. Those distinctions matter for someone planning a shorter stop in Exposition Park or a full visit through the galleries.

For more on the institution’s debut, see the earlier report on the Lucas Museum opening to visitors. The public opening followed member previews, a neighborhood preview and an opening-night event, according to the museum’s September announcement. What the first visitors found is now clear from opening-day reporting; how the institution’s broad collection and public spaces work for its audiences will become clearer with continued visits.