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Lucas Museum Opens 2026 in LA, Showcases Star Wars Archives

5/1/2026

Summary

Lucas Museum Opens

The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles will open on September 22, 2026.
The $1 billion, 100,000-square-foot building houses 18 inaugural exhibitions across 32 galleries curated by filmmaker George Lucas.
One gallery will display the Lucas Archives, featuring original Star Wars and Indiana Jones concept art, costumes, and props.
The museum organizes works by emotion and storytelling rather than chronological or artist-based order.

Summary

Lucas Announces Opening

George Lucas unveiled a plan for the museum’s September 22, 2026 opening, stressing that it values emotional connection over price or celebrity as true art.
The exhibition will feature documentary photographers Gordon Parks, Dorothea Lange and Robert Capa with large murals by Diego Rivera and Judith F. Baca depicting major historical events.
The galleries will showcase Americana by Thomas Hart Benton and Norman Rockwell and illustrations by Maxfield Parrish, N.C. Wyeth, Jessie Willcox Smith and Jacob Lawrence.

Summary

Lucas Museum Layoffs

In May 2025 the museum cut 14% of full-time staff and eliminated seven part-time positions.
Three months later it dismissed 15 full-time employees, many from education and public programming, and seven on-call staff.
The budget rose from about $700 million to $1 billion.
The opening slipped from 2021 to September 22 2026 after the museum moved from San Francisco to Chicago to Los Angeles.

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Lucas Museum Opens

The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles will open on September 22, 2026.
The $1 billion, 100,000-square-foot building houses 18 inaugural exhibitions across 32 galleries curated by filmmaker George Lucas.
One gallery will display the Lucas Archives, featuring original Star Wars and Indiana Jones concept art, costumes, and props.
The museum organizes works by emotion and storytelling rather than chronological or artist-based order.

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