Ven-Mar Neighborhood Association

UCLA's Fowler Museum Flings Wide its Doors

The Museum Launches 10/40 Anniversary with Free Admission

The Fowler Museum of Cultural History announces that admission to the Museum will be free of charge, beginning in October, 2002.

The Fowler Museum is part of UCLA’s School of the Arts and Architecture and is located on the North Campus.

“We want more people to know about the Museum and its diverse contributions to the cultural landscape of both UCLA and the greater Los Angeles community,” said Director Marla C. Berns, who has been with the museum for less than a year

Initially established 40 years ago to consolidate the various collections of non-Western art and artifacts on campus, the museum has greatly expanded its activities and now sponsors three changing exhibitions running simultaneously.

On view this fall during the start of the Fowler 10/40 year are exhibitions which focus on the arts and cultures of Japan, Nigeria, and the America Southwest. Additionally, this winter will debut "Fowler Out Loud", a UCLA student performance series of live music, drama, dance, performance art, and spoken word on Thursday evenings. A Fowler 10/40 anniversary celebration will be held in May 2003, when the Museum will host a trio of exhibitions of works from Senegal, Mexico, and Madagascar.

"Ways of the Rivers: Arts and Environment of the Niger Delta" explores the arts and culture of the region over two millennia and ends November 17, 2002.

"KATSINA/kachina: Tradition, Appropriation, and Innovation" examines the traditions of Katsina imagery by the Hopi themselves, and its appropriation by non-Hopi and non-Indian peoples. The exhibition ends February 16, 2003

"MATSURI! Japanese Festival Arts", from October 13, 2002 until February 9, 2003, will present elaborate Japanese textiles, festive dress and artifacts such as those used in the joyously chaotic Shinto Buddhist festivals known as matsuri.

February 9 – July 27, 2003
"A Saint in the City: Sufi Arts of Urban Senegal", about the arts and culture of Islamic West Africa, will introduce audiences to the striking range of Mouride arts, one of the richest visual traditions in all of Islam, and will dispel common misconceptions about the religion and its central tenets.

March 23 – June 29, 2003
"Textiles of Madagascar".

May 4 – December 14, 2003
"Mexican Trees of Life".


The Fowler Museum is open Wednesdays through Sundays, noon to 5 p.m., Thursdays until 8 p.m.; the museum is closed Mondays and Tuesdays. The Museum is located in the north part of the UCLA campus. Parking is available for $7 in Lot 4. Enter at Westwood Boulevard from Sunset Boulevard. On any Big Blue bus going to UCLA, get off at the end of the line and walk west, past the Law School.
Admission is $5, $3 for Seniors, free for 17 and under, free on Thursdays. And now FREE to everyone beginning October 2nd. Call (310) 825-4361 for more information.