{"id":167084,"date":"2025-08-22T18:02:14","date_gmt":"2025-08-22T18:02:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/167084\/"},"modified":"2025-08-22T18:02:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T18:02:14","slug":"new-app-aims-to-improve-access-to-los-angeles-art-scene-the-art-newspaper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/167084\/","title":{"rendered":"New app aims to improve access to Los Angeles art scene – The Art Newspaper"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the best and worst things about being an Angeleno is the investment of time and effort needed to be \u201cin the know\u201d, which eventually pays dividends. Several new projects are on a mission to accelerate that process, including ArtWrld<\/a>, a new mobile app designed to be \u201cthe AllTrails for art\u201d, says founder Josh Goldblum, referring to the popular hiking and exercise app.<\/p>\n

Goldblum is the chief executive of the creative agency Bluecadet, which has produced immersive museum experiences for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, and other institutions. \u201cTrying to make art and culture interesting and accessible has been my white whale forever,\u201d he says. \u201cI was doing it at all these different institutions, but what was really missing was the things that connect [them].\u201d<\/p>\n

Goldblum adds that while there are discovery tools out there, particularly for art-centric neighbourhoods like Chelsea in New York, \u201cyou have to usually be deep, deep in the art world to know how to find really good stuff\u201d. His aim for Artwrld is to help make great shows more accessible and provide \u201ca little bit of context so that when you get there, you don\u2019t feel like an idiot\u201d.<\/p>\n

ArtWrld launched in July with up-to-date listings of gallery shows, museum exhibitions, talks and events in Los Angeles and New York, with plans to expand to \u201csmaller markets with diverse geographical density\u201d like San Francisco soon, Goldblum says. On the app, users can choose their city, search by date, check out editors\u2019 picks, save shows they want to see and view them on Google Maps. Goldblum says the response so far has been positive, with over 500 art lovers signing up in the first week after launch.<\/p>\n

Artwrld is not the only entry into the Los Angeles art discovery space. Shana Nys Dambrot, the former LA Weekly arts editor, has been running her art newsletter \u201c13 Things LA<\/a>\u201d with her frequent collaborator and arts promoter Heidi Johnson for the past year. As media organisations in Southern California and beyond have cut back on arts coverage (or folded entirely), Dambrot sees a big hole to fill. \u201cI don\u2019t have 13 outlets to do short reviews, 13 short reviews or thoughtful previews for a week [anymore],\u201d she says. \u201cThere\u2019s no more places physically left for me to place that stuff. It doesn\u2019t exist. And I was like, \u2018LA needs this. If I weren\u2019t doing it, I would need this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

On the other end of the local art coverage spectrum is Diva Corp USA<\/a>, the anonymous Instagram account and artist-on-artist criticism entity. Diva Corp raises provocative questions through its physical magazine and social media accounts, often highlighting shows at smaller Los Angeles galleries. Diva Corp\u2019s anonymous organisers say via email that while they have no problem finding art in the city, they feel that traditional art criticism is not serving anyone. \u201cArts coverage became so unengaging, so irrelevant to everyone except adjunct professors and their acolytes, that no one wanted to pay attention anymore,\u201d they write.<\/p>\n

These projects\u2019 creators see opportunities to overcome barriers to access and critical dialogue. Like Goldblum\u2019s app, Dambrot\u2019s newsletter, which she hosts on Substack, seems to be finding its audience organically. \u201cPeople have responded to it,\u201d she says. \u201cThe Substack model allows you to be quite free and break some of the rules of journalism that need to exist in the objective journalism space. That kind of freedom didn\u2019t exist in the legacy media sphere and I get why.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dambrot finds things to cover in a variety of places, from the much-loved and underused Department of Cultural Affairs calendar<\/a>, to recommendations from friends and her own adventures in the city. \u201cIndie artist-run [spots], scrappy, can-do places, they can\u2019t afford a seat at the table,\u201d she says. \u201cIt gives them a chance at eyeballs and it is actually something that I almost feel is a moral aspect of what I\u2019m doing there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Diva Corp concurred, framing the Los Angeles art scene\u2019s relative independence from art market forces as a strength. \u201cWe don\u2019t have, you know, more tepid oil paintings than New York does, or more drypoint etchings\u2026 and we definitely don\u2019t have [a lot] of bankers to sell to, but that\u2019s OK,\u201d they write. \u201cThat\u2019s a narrative [we] can live with.\u201d<\/p>\n