The Main Museum: A $50M Institution for LA's Local Art Scene

A new museum called The Main Museum will open in Los Angeles, backed by real estate magnate Tom Gilmore and designed by Tom Wiscombe Architecture. The project involves renovating early 20th-century buildings in the Old Bank District, offering 4,000 square meters of exhibition space, a rooftop sculpture garden, and an amphitheater. With a budget of approximately $50 million and a four-year construction timeline, the museum aims to focus on California's local art scene, distinguishing itself from larger institutions like The Broad, LACMA, and MOCA. Allison Agsten, formerly a curator at the Hammer Museum, will serve as director. Before its official opening (expected after 2020), the museum will launch Beta Main in October 2016, a 10-day event featuring Los Angeles artists Suzanne Lacy and Andrea Bowers. This announcement adds to LA's growing cultural momentum, alongside recent developments such as Hauser & Wirth and Sprüth Magers opening galleries in the city, and San Francisco's SFMOCA reopening and Gagosian's new outpost.