01-08-2025
The Start of Something Big: The Judith Center Launches Its Space in Downtown LA
Kathryn Andrews at the opening of The Judith Center Photo by Molly O'Keeffe/Capture Imaging, Courtesy of Kathryn Andrews and the Judith Center
Last Saturday night, The Judith Center, a not-for-profit dedicated to examining societal sex discrimination and advocating for gender equality, opened its first physical location, at The Reef, a commercial building in Downtown LA whose 12th floor is dedicated to artists and art organizations.
Judith Center founder Kathryn Andrews, a noted sculptor and conceptual artist, spoke briefly at the ribbon center cutting ceremony. The new space, Andrews said, will be home to the Center's programming which will include art exhibitions, panels, talks, a book and poetry club, a lending library and more. Also participating in the ribbon cutting was Michelle Woo, co-founder of the nonprofit For Freedoms, as well as one of The Guerrilla Girls, the iconic feminist artist group who have been fighting sexism and racism in the art world since the 1980s and who debuted a 'complaint department' installation that night.
The Judith Center has already held several discussion panels including during Frieze LA and staged exhibitions at the Felix Art Fair. The Judith Center also organized an exhibition at MSU Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University featuring the first phase of a five year project to feature 50 posters of new work made by artists. Some of the posters by artists such as Lynn Hershman Leeson and Warren Niedich were on view at last Saturday night's opening.
Guerrilla Girls at the ribbon cutting ceremony for the Judith Center Photo by Molly O'Keeffe/Capture Imaging, Courtesy Kathryn Andrews and The Judith Center
The Judith Center opening was a joyous celebration, where attendees enjoyed ample food and drink and listened to music provided by BlueWhale, featuring a curated performance by a female jazz trio—Nicole McCabe, Sophia Trevor, and Lauren Ellis—as well as DJ Cody Perkins. There was also interactive art installations by the Guerrilla Girls, as well as from LA-based artist and computer programmer, and UCLA professor Lauren Lee McCarthy.
To raise funds for the Judith Center there was a raffle for gift baskets, as well as a silent auction of sets of books curated by well-known artists and writers such as Rashid Johnson, Andrea Fraser, Lauren Halsey, Andrea Bowers, Barbara T. Smith, Ron Athey, rafa esparza, Judith Butler and Riane Eisler. There was also a limited-edition t-shirt will be produced by Ei Arakawa-Nash, the LA-based Japanese American performance artist, who will represent Japan at the 2026 Venice Biennale.
Standing in the room, surrounded by some 250 diverse creatives in all disciplines and of all ages, one couldn't help but feel that one was at the start of something big.
For more information about The Judith Centeror to get involved: Thejudithcenter The Judith Center
