Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County presents First Fridays Connected: L.A. at the Intersections
Live music and discussion on Friday, March 5, features a deep dive into the theme “Home x Habitats” and a performance by Neil Frances
Los Angeles, CA (February 17, 2021) — The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHM) is connecting homebound audiences to timely discussions and music with this season’s virtual First Fridays Connected: L.A. at the Intersections.
On Friday, March 5, groove at home with KCRW DJ Anthony Valadez and prepare a special cocktail presented by Elle Nucci. Then, dive into a lively live stream discussion around Home x Habitats, moderated by neuroscientist and science communicator Dr. Yewande Pearse, host of dublab’s monthly podcast Sound Science, with panelists Dr. Jennifer Mullan, psychologist and founder of Decolonizing Psychology, LLC; and Evelynn Escobar, social activist and founder of the L.A. based intersectional womxn’s hiking group Hike Clerb.
What is home in a work-from-home world? How are we performing in work and study, and what social disparities must we now confront? How has it changed the dynamics of domestic life, and how is this all impacting our mental health? Nature has been a source of calm and connection, and an opportunity for social justice through nature groups that focus on intersectionality and inclusion, but how can we continue to cultivate culture around environmental responsibility?
After the discussions, enjoy a performance by Neil Frances, alternative pop music from the duo Marc Gilfry and Jordan Feller.
An exclusive preview for NHMLAC members – watch the preshow Secrets from the Vault with Dr. Yewande Pearse, as she asks Kimball Garrett, NHMLAC Collections Manager of Ornithology, about the museum’s collections and details hidden in plain sight. To become a Member, visit NHMLAC.ORG/join and support our current educational mission, research, and community outreach.
This event is FREE, reservations are required. Only one reservation per household is needed. For more information and to RSVP, visit bit.ly/FFCMar21.
Returning for another season is First Fridays media sponsor KCRW.
First Fridays: L.A. at the Intersections
Home x Habitats
Friday, March 5, 2021
6-8pm
Free RSVP: bit.ly/FFCMar21
NHM VIRTUAL DJ LOUNGE
10 Minute Cocktail: Elle Nucci – 6:05 pm
Elle Nucci, owner of EN Events, presents the special 10 Minute Cocktail FIGUEROA STREET with bourbon, honey syrup, lemon juice. Recipe from LA based Mixologist Lucy Yepez.
KCRW DJ: Anthony Valadez – 6:15 pm
Anthony Valadez is the co-host of KCRW’s celebrated morning music program, Morning Becomes Eclectic. He was voted LA’s Best Club DJ by the LA Weekly’s Reader Poll in 2016 in addition to residencies in Las Vegas, the Natural History Museum (First Fridays) and across Hollywood’s nightlife scene. With 3 full length albums under his belt, he has remixed singles for the likes of Local Natives, Ozomatli and the late great David Bowie. He also co-produced and hosted 3 seasons of Crate Diggers for FUSE TV. He’s the father to a Frenchie and loves long walks on the beach.
DISCUSSIONS
Secrets from the Vault – 5:30 pm (Members-only)
Join neuroscientist and science communicator, Dr. Yewande Pearse, as she asks NHMLAC’s Collections Manager of Ornithology, Kimball Garrett, about the museum’s collections. Each month features a different expert to uncover the big mysteries, strange oddities, and untold stories from the museum.
Home x Habitats – 6:45 pm
With Dr. Jennifer Mullan and Evelynn Escobar
What is home in a work-from-home world? How are we performing in work and study, and what social disparities must we now confront? How has it changed the dynamics of domestic life, and how is this all impacting our mental health? Climate crises and the pandemic had, and are having, a different/more pronounced effect on our environment and the creatures in it. Although some wildlife has thrived as we moved off the roads and out of our energy-consuming offices, we also moved more towards nature. Nature has been a source of calm and connection, and an opportunity for social justice for nature groups that focus on intersectionality and inclusion, but how can we continue to cultivate culture around environmental responsibility?
Dr. Jennifer Mullan (pronouns: she/her) creates spaces for people and organizations to heal. She believes that it is essential to create dialogue to address how mental health is deeply affected by systemic inequities and the trauma of oppression, particularly the well-being of Queer Indigenous Black Brown People of Color (QIBPOC). In 2019, she founded Decolonizing Psychology, LLC. They seek to create spaces to “call mental health professions IN” (rather than call people out). Through the movement of Decolonizing Therapy, Dr. Mullan can be found providing international keynotes, holding Radicalizing Rage workshops, doing Coaching sessions while un-training mental health professionals, providing Ancestral healing sessions, or spending time with her Goddess cat, Isis.
Evelynn Escobar is a Los Angeles based multi-passionate creative, content creator, social activist and founder of the intersectional womxn’s hiking group Hike Clerb. Evelynn is a champion of representation and equity for Black and brown womxn from the great outdoors to digital media and beyond.
Moderator Dr. Yewande Pearse is a neuroscientist and science communicator. She gained her Ph.D. from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s College London, and is a Postdoctoral Fellow at The Lundquist Institute at Harbor-UCLA. Dr. Pearse hosts a monthly radio show and podcast called Sound Science on Los Angeles’s legendary Dublab radio, and is host of Inside Biotech, a podcast from Biotech Connection Los Angeles. As an advocate for science accessibility, Yewande has spoken at various events at the intersection of science and culture, has appeared as a guest expert in several videos for the meditation app Headspace, and written for TEDMED and Massive Science.
PERFORMANCE
Neil Frances – 7:30pm
After devoting years to their own projects, Marc Gilfry and Jordan Feller finally came together as Neil Frances in 2016 and realized they were never better than when they were working together. Neil Frances is also hard at work on more new music, building on the creative interplay that has already taken them to unexpected places. “Before Jordan hit me up, I was kind of wallowing trying to make tunes on my own. I couldn’t see my way out of what was good and what wasn’t,” says Gilfry. Adds Feller, “I was a producer first and musician/songwriter second, so I can often see when Marc’s head has exploded and then take that idea to the next step. The most fun stuff is when there are surprises and accidents. There’s a lot of benefit for both of us in that working relationship.”
UPCOMING FIRST FRIDAYS DATES (full schedules to be announced):
For this season’s First Fridays Connected 2021, NHM explores Los Angeles at the Intersections, a celebration of science and culture. Neighborhood murals reflecting this city’s state of mind, climate activism across all communities, the transforming habitats of humans and animals, and cuisines of the city as L.A.’s cultural signifiers, show that the ties that connect the city together are strongest at the intersections.
Friday, April 2, 2021: Climate Crisis
Friday, May 7, 2021: Culture x Cuisine
Friday, June 4, 2021: Murals of Los Angeles
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