Los Angeles
The Onassis Foundation in Los Angeles
The mission of the Onassis Foundation is to merge the local with the global. To this end, it undertakes works of cultural diplomacy through events and partnerships that unite Athens – through joint creative action – with Onassis Los Angeles (OLA), executive directed by Paul Holdengräber.
Paul Holdengräber recently concluded an entertaining series of conversations, most often hosted at the New York Public Library, with some of the most famous people in history – everyone from Patti Smith to Jay-Z, Wes Anderson to Helen Mirren, and Werner Herzog to Mike Tyson. Now, as the Executive Director of Onassis LA (OLA), he’ll be continuing these extraordinary encounters on behalf of the Onassis Foundation at a “center of dialogue” in Los Angeles.
The Onassis Foundation makes the local global, and the global local. In building yet another cultural bridge – this time connecting Athens live, through joint creative action, with Los Angeles – the Foundation continues to seek out people with bold ideas across the world and engage them in discussions about everything shaping society today. Onassis LA (also known as OLA House), on the east coast of the USA, is helping to realize and advance the cultural diplomacy of the Onassis Foundation through international events and partnerships. Athens – connected live, through joint creative action, with Los Angeles – is coming to build yet another cultural bridge, with the ingenious Paul Holdengräber as the initiative’s Founding Executive Director. Host of the famous cultural event series “LIVE from NYPL” at the New York Public Library for many years, he has interviewed and welcomed some of the most amazing people on the planet. Across more than 600 events, Paul Holdengräber engaged in discussions about pop culture and the contemporary arts scene, and anything else that sparked the curiosity of his fellow speakers and guests. Everyone from Patti Smith to Zadie Smith, Ricky Jay to Jay-Z, Errol Morris to Jan Morris, Wes Anderson to Helen Mirren, and Werner Herzog to Mike Tyson.
“A house among the palm trees. A ping pong table. And a passion for conversation and extraordinary encounters.”
The first Onassis LA project to be made available to the public is a series of podcasts on the age of social distancing titled “The Quarantine Tapes”: phone conversations lasting 20 minutes with distinguished guests – artists, philosophers, writers, and others – on how they are experiencing the global pandemic and social distancing.
As part of our collective need to engage with the world via the digital public realm, the Onassis Foundation YouTube Channel is connecting Athens with America’s two most major cities through joint creative action. In this vein, the Foundation’s next Los Angeles project is the culmination of a journey being made by young filmmakers as part of the “Meet the Future” program, which is set to send these promising artists to LA on an Onassis Foundation scholarship and connect them with leading, internationally-renowned figures from the world of cinema, as well as fellow filmmakers.
