Painting a Picture of Family Fun

The giant puppets were the big hit--14-foot monsters wrapped in greens and golds that alternately thrilled and frightened the children crowding around them in the courtyard of the Getty Center on Saturday.

The puppets, together with storytellers, musicians and hands-on crafts, were the extra attractions at the Getty’s first Family Festival, which continues today. Joining the usual museum crowd of art and architecture enthusiasts were children and parents from around the region, some bused in courtesy of the Los Angeles County Public Library.

“We want to encourage you to involve your kids in art, because art saves,” Lula Washington said to a crowd of families watching her students perform tap, African and modern dance. “Get your kids moving, get their inner spirits moving.”

Although the Getty’s festival was targeted at all families, those taking advantage of the library’s Arts Passport Program were special guests. The program, in its second year, is designed to bring lower-income families to the city’s cultural and artistic centers for free.

“I think this day is a big success,” said 10-year-old Ashton Ellredge as he constructed a puppet at the commedia dell’arte workshop in the main courtyard. “We get to make masks, read stories; we get to look at art. It’s fun.”

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Pasting glitter and feathers to a paper mask, LaMonica Ellredge, Ashton’s mother, said the weekend gave her son the chance to see things he otherwise might miss.

“I wanted to teach him, let him learn about the historical, the artistic. This is an element he’s not usually in,” Ellredge said. “I want to get him exposed to things he doesn’t usually see.”

“And,” Ellredge confessed, “I think I’m enjoying the crafts even more than my son is.”

The mother and son planned to work a bit more on their projects before getting lunch, courtesy of the Passport Program, and then tour the museum’s galleries.

They had many possibilities from which to choose. There was storytelling on the lawn, zydeco and gospel music on the main stage, and an interactive mystery guide to the museum’s galleries.

“We are hoping to send the message that the Getty is a good place for families to come to,” said Ellen Broderick, a manager in the center’s education department. “We’re also trying to draw families from nontraditional museum groups, from communities who might not even come to the Westside, much less an art museum here.”

The Passport Program, which brought five busloads of families Saturday, has teamed up with the center to try to make that happen. So far, the community interest is there.

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“We started signing people up for this trip about a month ago, and within two or three days, all the spots were filled,” said Gene Richey, executive director of the library foundation.

“So many families just don’t have the resources to get here, even to pay for lunch or transportation--that’s where we can help.”