We’re lucky to be in such an arts & design busy place as SoCal! Here are a few Conferences & Events you might like to check out. Pricing varies from free, to modest cost, to expensive. If you’re able to go, go! You’ll learn a lot and have fantastic opportunities to build out your career network!

Some conferences use student volunteers. This is a chance to get in free and network with both peers and pros!

All events are in LA/SoCal unless otherwise noted. Some are in different cities different years.

Calendar

January

• Anime Los Angeles – https://animelosangeles.org/
• School & Sports Photographer’s Annual Conference – https://spac-usa.org/

February

• LA Art Show – https://www.laartshow.com/
• CAA (College Art Association) – https://www.collegeart.org/programs/conference/future-conferences

March

April

• Brewery Artwalk – https://breweryartwalk.com/

May

June

July

• Twitch Con, Paris – https://twitchcon.com/en/
• Anime Expo – https://www.anime-expo.org/

August

• Siggraph 10-14 August, 2025, Vancouver – https://s2025.siggraph.org/ — apply now for Student Volunteer!

September

• Pacific Design Center, Fall Market – https://pacificdesigncenter.com/fall-market-2023/
• Twitch Con – https://www.twitchcon.com/

October

• ComicCon LA – https://www.comicconla.com/
• Brewery Artwalk – https://breweryartwalk.com/
• Adobe Max – https://max.adobe.com/
• AIGA-LA Design Conference – https://losangeles.aiga.org/
• Lightbox Expo – https://lightboxexpo.com/
• SILA Illustration West Exhib – https://si-la.org/save-the-date-illustration-west-61-award-winners-exhibition-oct-4-27-2023/
• Society of Professional Journalists/LA – Awards banquet in Oct, many other events throughout the year – https://www.spjla.org/events

November

• IAAPA (attractions industry), Florida – https://www.iaapa.org/expos/iaapa-expo
• World Animation Summit – https://animationmagazine.net/summit/
• Anime Pasadena, Nov 2-3 – https://www.animepasadena.com/

December

Art Galleries & Museums around SoCal

Public Programs

• Many events @Hammer Museum, Westwood: https://hammer.ucla.edu/programs-events

Gallery Lists

Lists of Art Galleries in the LA area:

• Art Galleries in Los Angeles – https://art-collecting.com/galleries_ca_losangeles.htm
• Curate LA – https://curate.la/
• Los Angeles Art Gallery Tours – https://losangelesartgallerytours.com/list-los-angeles-contemporary-art-galleries/ (great list of galleries, you don’t have to take a tour! 😛

Gallery Areas

There are some areas that have groupings of a dozen or more galleries. These are great since you can park once and see many galleries:

• Bergamot Station, Santa Monica – https://bergamotstation.com/
• Robertson & Melrose, West Hollywood – https://www.westhollywooddesigndistrict.com/artwalk-on-around-melrose/
• Culver City – https://culvercityartsdistrict.com/visit
• Beverly Hills – https://lovebeverlyhills.com/itineraries/view/culture-art-galleries-in-beverly-hills

Art Museums

Grand Avenue Arts

Bunker Hill is a DTLA area rich with museums and cultural experiences. Park once and visit important contemporary art museums, architecture, and food. At the top of Bunker Hill on Grand Avenue sit The Broad and MOCA. They’re next door to Disney Hall, The Music Center, and the Colburn School of Music and Dance. From there you can take Angel’s Flight down the hill to Grand Central Market and have something to eat. Head out the other side of the market to visit The Bradbury Building. It’s a remarkable piece of architecture famous for appearing in films like Blade Runner. And you just might catch a site-specific dance or opera piece while you’re at The Bradbury. Behind the Bradbury is Biddy Mason Memorial Park. And there are several art galleries around this area. Culturally, it’s also worth noticing the economic distinction between the West & East entrances to The Market. The West leads to affluent business and law types. The Ease will show you a lot more homelessness. You can also peruse The Last Bookstore which is just a couple blocks south.

• The Broad – https://www.thebroad.org/
• MOCA Grand Avenue – https://www.moca.org/visit/hours-tickets-admission#moca-grand-avenue
• Disney Hall – https://www.laphil.com/
• The Music Center – https://www.musiccenter.org/
• Colburn School – https://www.colburnschool.edu/
• Angel’s Flight – https://www.angelsflight.org/
• Grand Central Market – https://grandcentralmarket.com/
• Bradbury Building – https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/bradbury-building
• Biddy Mason Memorial Park – https://www.laconservancy.org/learn/historic-places/biddy-mason-memorial-park/
• The Last Bookstore – https://www.lastbookstorela.com/

Professional Organizations

Many of these organizations have low-cost student memberships. In addition to big, annual conferences they often have great monthly speakers. They may not have gotten their monthly programming going again since the pandemic. But, they probably will before too much longer.

Join! Participate! Be informed! Network!

• Set Decorator’s Society of America – https://www.setdecorators.org/
• IAAPA (attractions industry) – https://www.iaapa.org/
• Art Directors Guild (IATSE) – https://adg.org/
• AIGA-LA (graphic arts) – https://losangeles.aiga.org/
• SILA (illustrators) – https://si-la.org/
• NPPA (photography) – https://nppa.org/

Other Resources

Access to info!

• LA 411 Directory – https://la411.com/
• Graphic Artists Guild, Handbook of Pricing & Ethical Guidelines – https://www.amazon.com/dp/0262542390/

More?

List other Conferences, Events & Talks in the comments below and I’ll add them to our list!