In a statement of its commitment to artists and to downtown, the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles is planning to buy the East Seventh Street building it occupies and improve it with a cafe, outdoor space and studios for a new artists-in-residence program. “I want to make sure that this institution is here for generations to come,” Anne Ellegood, the museum’s director, said in a recent interview, “making sure it’s sustainable.”Since the institution moved from the west side — where it was called the Santa Monica Museum of Art — and rebranded itself with a new name in the downtown Arts District in 2017, Ellegood said, its location has become integral to its identity. “It’s literally a neighborhood named for artists, which is increasingly a neighborhood where artists are not present and can’t afford to be here,” she said.

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Persons: ” Anne Ellegood, “, Santa Monica Museum of Art —, Ellegood, “ It’s, ” Organizations: Institute of Contemporary Art, Seventh, Santa Monica Museum of Art, Arts District Locations: Los Angeles, —