Our Mission:
Founded in 2008, the Lummis Days Community Foundation was conceived to build relationships and create a sense of community by celebrating the rich cultural heritage and diversity of Northeast Los Angeles through a shared creative experience – an annual multi-cultural, multi-disciplinary festival. Lummis Days is named for Charles Lummis, who in 1890s Los Angeles, was an activist for Native American rights and historic preservation. Lummis Days embraces the values of diversity, inclusion and equity through the constitution of its board, the recruitment of its volunteers, the programming of its events and outreach to its neighborhood. Drawing upon the legacy of its namesake, Lummis Days attracts a diverse audience utilizing the history, music, dance, poetry, film, theatre and visual arts of its multi-cultural community.
The Lummis Day Community Foundation and the Lummis Day Organizing Committee are comprised of community activists representing the diverse neighborhoods and patchwork of cultures that comprise Northeast Los Angeles, one of the country’s most diverse and dynamic communities.
Charles Fletcher Lummis, 1859-1928
Lummis Day: The Festival of Northeast Los Angeles, takes its name from Charles Fletcher Lummis, who walked 3,500 miles from Ohio to Los Angeles as a newspaper stunt in 1885. He was the first City Editor of the Los Angeles Times, founded the Southwest Museum – the first museum in Los Angeles – preserved the Old Spanish Missions of Southern California, published a literary magazine, Land Of Sunshine/Out West, and was an advisor to President Theodore Roosevelt. He hand built El Alisal, aka Lummis Home, one of Northeast L.A.’s most cherished cultural monuments, where he hosted a seminal art salon. Lummis was an early proponent of multi-culturalism, an ardent advocate for the rights of Native Americans, and was knighted by the King of Spain for his efforts to promote Spanish speaking peoples and cultures. It is the multi-cultural and artistic sensibilities of Charles Fletcher Lummis that Lummis Day seeks to honor and advance.
What We Do:
Since 2006, Lummis Day has sponsored an array of activities including film and poetry events, educational programs and, most prominently, the annual Lummis Day: the Festival of Northeast Los Angeles, which draws thousands from all over Los Angeles to festival sites in Northeast Los Angeles for a free full day of music, dance, poetry, art and community activities.
