Lucas Museum of Narrative Art : Opening Night in LA

The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art is approaching its public debut with a celebration of the images that shape collective memory. According to the supplied opening-night account, co-founders George Lucas and Mellody Hobson hosted artists, filmmakers, civic leaders and philanthropists on September 19 in Los Angeles. The gala preceded the museum’s independently confirmed September 22 public opening, when visitors will encounter a collection conceived around storytelling across cultures, centuries and artistic media. Official opening announcement.

The supplied account names Julie Bell, Guillermo del Toro, Greta Gerwig, Lewis Hamilton, Jensen Huang, Steven Spielberg and Pharrell Williams among the evening’s co-chairs. Its guest list includes Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Hayden Christensen, Francis Ford Coppola, Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio. That gathering connects several generations of filmmaking with the illustrators and visual artists whose work underpins the museum’s broader purpose.

Music and a rooftop drone show animate the celebration

The event account describes a cocktail reception on Lucas Plaza accompanied by a 27-piece orchestra. Voices of Fire, co-founded by Ezekiel Williams and Pharrell Williams, performed with Jon Batiste at the piano and 75 additional singers. The reported program included “Yoda’s Theme,” “Happy” and “JOY (Unspeakable),” bringing film music and contemporary performance into an evening dedicated to the emotional reach of images and stories.

After exploring the galleries, guests gathered on the fifth-floor rooftop for a Nova Sky Stories drone presentation introduced and narrated by Oprah Winfrey and Samuel L. Jackson, according to the same account. Its imagery ranged from the Cave of Altamira to Julie Bell’s The Huntress, the Millennium Falcon and Maxfield Parrish’s Ecstasy. A surprise Black Eyed Peas performance followed, with songs including “Where Is the Love” and “I Gotta Feeling.”

A museum shaped by decades of collecting

In the supplied remarks, George Lucas argues that a viewer’s emotional response matters when deciding what qualifies as art. Mellody Hobson describes the museum as a “director’s cut,” a revealing metaphor for the personal decisions and persistence behind the project. The official exhibition announcement confirms that George Lucas has collected narrative art for more than 50 years and that the founding collection comprises more than 40,000 works. Collection and exhibitions.

The galleries bring illustration, comics, photography, murals and cinema into a shared conversation. Artists represented include Norman Rockwell, Jessie Willcox Smith, Maxfield Parrish, Frank Frazetta, Frida Kahlo, Jacob Lawrence, Jack Kirby and Diego Rivera. Themes such as childhood, family, work, civic life and adventure give visitors ways into the collection through familiar experiences. This approach makes the subject of an image a starting point for exploration, alongside its maker and medium. Inaugural gallery themes.

Star Wars in Motion reveals the work behind imaginary worlds

The inaugural cinema exhibition, Star Wars in Motion, focuses on vehicle designs, props, costumes and illustrations from the first six films of George Lucas’s saga. Announced on May 4, 2026, it includes the Landspeeder from A New Hope and the first physical build of the Wheel Bike from Revenge of the Sith. The selection provides a concrete opportunity to examine how imagined movement becomes an object that can be designed, built and filmed. Official exhibition details.

Architecture and gardens transform an Exposition Park site

Designed by Ma Yansong of MAD with Stantec, the approximately 300,000-square-foot museum stands within a 13-acre campus. Its five stories contain roughly 100,000 square feet of galleries, two theaters and spaces for learning and dining. Mia Lehrer and Studio-MLA designed the surrounding landscape, replacing former parking areas with gardens, paths and gathering places. Campus and architecture.

The architectural concept draws on clouds, light and the canopy of surrounding trees. Native and drought-tolerant plantings extend the experience outside, while rainwater capture and rooftop solar panels form part of the campus’s environmental design. The setting matters to the museum’s public role: visitors can encounter the building within the everyday landscape of South Los Angeles, alongside Exposition Park’s existing cultural institutions. Campus design.

Community access and research extend the museum’s purpose

The museum’s LM37 program offers residents of the surrounding 90037 ZIP code free admission, with passholders able to reserve tickets for themselves and one guest. The museum also announced a September 13 community preview ahead of the gala. These measures give a specific local dimension to the founders’ emphasis on public access and belonging. Neighborhood admission program.

A free Research Library adds another reason to visit. The opening announcement identifies more than 30,000 comic books and over 2,900 volumes from the personal library of Joseph Campbell, including annotated books and research notes. Those holdings connect the study of mythology with the visual storytelling explored upstairs. The latest opening announcement also identifies Tracey Bates as CEO, superseding the older leadership information in the supplied background text. Opening information.

Lucas Museum opening events recap

Where : Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, One Lucas Plaza, 3800 South Vermont Avenue, Los Angeles.
When : Saturday, September 19, 2026.
What : An inaugural gala hosted by George Lucas and Mellody Hobson, with gallery visits and performances described in the supplied event account.
Who : George Lucas, Mellody Hobson, Julie Bell, Guillermo del Toro, Greta Gerwig, Sir Lewis Hamilton, Jensen Huang, JR, Steven Spielberg, Pharrell Williams, Irving Azoff, Babyface, Mayor Karen Bass, Jon Batiste, David Benioff, Jack Black, Orlando Bloom, Camila Cabello, Nicolas Cage, Hayden Christensen, Jon M. Chu, Chris Columbus, Francis Ford Coppola, Lee Daniels, Robert De Niro, Guillermo del Toro, Laura Dern, Caleb Deschanel, Emily Deschanel, Leonardo DiCaprio, Vin Diesel, Doja Cat, Cynthia Erivo, Jon Favreau, Nathan Fielder, Flea, Harrison Ford & Calista Flockhart, Greta Gerwig, Ludwig Göransson, Topher Grace, Brian Grazer, Seth Green, Judy Greer, David Alan Grier, Mark Hamill, Sir Lewis Hamilton, Woody Harrelson, Ron Howard & Bryce Dallas Howard, Helen Hunt, Bob Iger & Willow Bay, Peter Jackson, Samuel L. Jackson, Kris Jenner, Magic Johnson, Michael B. Jordan, Kim Kardashian, Jeffrey & Marilyn Katzenberg, Miranda Kerr & Evan Spiegel, Keegan-Michael Key, Alicia Keys, Gayle King, Bill Kramer, John Landis, Spike Lee, Eva Longoria, Chuck Lorre, Frank Marshall & Kathleen Kennedy, George R.R. Martin, Chris Meledandri, Frank Miller, Janelle Monáe, Wendi Murdoch, Christopher Nolan & Emma Thomas, Governor Gavin Newsom, David Oyelowo, Frank Oz, Al Pacino, Nancy Pelosi, Keke Palmer, Katy Perry, Tyler Perry, Bella Poarch, Zac Posen, Wolfgang Puck, Jack Quaid, Law Roach, Matthew Robbins, Adam Rodriguez, Robert Rodriguez, Al Roker & Deborah Roberts, Tracee Ellis Ross, Meg Ryan, Sheryl Sandberg, Ted Sarandos & Nicole Avant, Jonathan Scott, Lilly Singh, Steven Spielberg & Kate Capshaw, SZA, Justin Trudeau, Sofía Vergara, Denis Villeneuve, Lindsey Vonn, Diane Warren, Kerry Washington, Emma Watson, D. B. Weiss, Pete Wentz, Russell Westbrook, Pharrell Williams, Owen Wilson, Oprah Winfrey, Ma Yansong, Robert Zemeckis, Refik Anadol, Judy Baca, Julie Bell, Nicolas Berggruen, Dr. Anita Blanchard, Michael Bloomberg, Edythe Broad, Doug Chiang, Kathryn & Kenneth Chenault, Melinda French Gates, David Geffen, Thelma Golden, Amanda Gorman, Michael Govan, Patti Harris, Joanne Heyler, Amy Homma, Valerie Jarrett, JR, Henry Kravis & Marie-Josée Kravis, Jeff Koons, Glenn Ligon, Crystal McCrary & Raymond McGuire, Cheech Marin, Takashi Murakami, Kadir Nelson, Laurie Norton Moffat, Laurene Powell Jobs, Carol Sutton Lewis, Dasha Zhukova Niarchos….

Photos : Getty Images for The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art