About VPAM
OUR PURPOSE
VPAM is a visual arts institution and artist laboratory at East Los Angeles College. Rooted in the diverse communities of East LA, the west San Gabriel Valley, and greater Los Angeles, the museum cultivates and preserves the artwork of underrepresented visual artists. As a community college-based museum, VPAM serves a broad spectrum of learners, creating a space for critical dialogue and facilitating the development of a more diverse museum field.
Guiding Principles
VPAM’s guiding principles are institutional values imbued with action. They were co-created amongst the VPAM staff, Foundation Board and ELAC leadership during the strategic planning process. They are used to make organizational decisions, achieve VPAM’s strategic goals and vision, and maintain a thriving culture.
We Believe In…
Fostering a sense of belonging where our diverse communities are seen, welcomed, and engaged.
Advancing the museum as a place of learning to help empower individuals and promote their creative and professional development.
Uplifting artists and nurturing their experimentation and growth as visionaries in our communities.
Reframing histories to counter historical erasures and to better reflect the complexities of our lived experiences.
Transforming the museum field so that underrepresented people and perspectives are brought to the forefront through impactful career and workforce programs.
Eliminating barriers to the museum by expanding physical, cultural, and educational access for our communities.
History
The Vincent Price Art Museum is an on-campus museum in Monterey Park, California named for actor, art collector, and champion of the arts Vincent Price. Established to serve the students of East Los Angeles College, as well as Eastside and San Gabriel Valley communities, it is one of the few museums in the U.S. that belong to a community college and hold a permanent collection of fine art.
The museum evolved from an art gallery founded in 1950 on the campus of then East Los Angeles Junior College. That same year, Vincent Price made his first fateful visit to the college. Together with his wife, costume designer Mary Grant, Vincent Price was a frequent visitor to the college, a speaker at graduation ceremonies and a classroom guest who eagerly engaged with students and faculty. Early on, he observed a lack of opportunity for students on campus–and in East Los Angeles in general–to have first-hand experiences with art. The Prices took the initiative to remedy this shortcoming and donated 90 pieces from their personal collection in 1951 to establish the first “teaching art collection” housed at a community college. In recognition of this extravagant gift, ELAC renamed the art gallery in the Prices’ honor in 1958.
As plans developed for ELAC’s new Performing and Fine Arts Center, the gallery was renamed the Vincent Price Art Museum in 2008. In 2011, the museum moved to a new expanded location on the college campus, where it now houses seven art galleries, a specially designed vault for the permanent collection, and a multimedia lecture hall for art history classes.
Since its founding, the collection has grown to more than 7,000 objects. The range is impressive and eclectic, much like the Prices’ own collecting interest in world art, spanning many time periods and many regions of the globe. Hundreds of shows and programs have been mounted at the museum, showcasing emerging, established, and legacy artists, as well as student artists from across the Los Angeles Community College District.
Today, VPAM promotes interdisciplinary exhibitions and diverse artistic voices, past and present, that explore historical, social, and cultural themes close to the heart of its community in East Los Angeles and beyond.
