LA Phil’s 100 for the 100th: Be Our Guest

LA Phil partners with L.A. County to make 10,000 free Walt Disney Concert Hall tickets available during centennial season

Breaking down economic barriers to Walt Disney Concert Hall and ensuring that its Centennial will be a celebration for all of L.A., the Los Angeles Philharmonic today announced that it will collaborate with the Los Angeles County Supervisors through its Education Department to distribute 10,000 free tickets to concerts during the anniversary season, October 2018 through June 2019.

Through an innovative program called 100 for the 100th: Be Our Guest, free tickets will be made available by the LA Phil for 100 Walt Disney Concert Hall events: Los Angeles Philharmonic concerts conducted by Music & Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel, concerts featuring major guest artists, holiday programs, youth concerts, World, Jazz, and Songbook programs, and more.

As part of 100 for the 100th: Be Our Guest, the office of each L.A. County Supervisor will create its own ticket distribution plan, designed to serve its constituency through community organizations. The LA Phil will offer up to 1,400 tickets to the office of each of the five County Supervisors throughout the Centennial season. In all, the Supervisors will distribute up to 7,000 free tickets through community organizations, with a focus on those who would be experiencing Walt Disney Concert Hall for the first time. The Education Department of the LA Phil will make another 3,000 free tickets available to students and families through YOLA, the Dudamel Fellows program, and other initiatives.

“Our music, our amazing concert hall, our anniversary celebration are for everyone,” Gustavo Dudamel said. “I hope that 100 for the 100th: Be Our Guest will be inclusive and welcoming for the people of L.A. and their orchestra.”

Simon Woods, CEO of the LA Phil, said, “Our 100th anniversary is the perfect time to recognize that this orchestra, this organization, would not be what they are without Los Angeles. We’re tremendously grateful to the L.A. County Supervisors for helping us present the only kind of Centennial season that makes sense for us — the one where we throw open our doors to people from everywhere in L.A.”

“Congratulations to the LA Phil on this important equity initiative that will make its Centennial truly inclusive,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda L. Solis, who represents the First District, which includes Disney Hall. “This program is about much more than free tickets: it’s about openness, respect, and equal access that everyone deserves from their great cultural institutions. Thank you to the LA Phil for making arts equity a priority.”

The LA Phil will offer the free tickets to the L.A. County Supervisors in two waves, on Sept. 21, 2018 (for concerts to be performed from October through January) and on Jan. 18, 2019 (for concerts to be performed from February through June).