Inside the Gamble House on March 13, visitors will roam the Arts and Crafts hallways past bamboo sculptures shaped like wind and water — then sit down and weave their own baskets. At USC Pacific Asia Museum a few miles south, they will walk through 12 rooms of dragons, guardian spirits, and shapeshifters. And at the Norton Simon Museum on Colorado Boulevard, they will stroll a sculpture garden that has been closed for nearly a year.
All of it is free. All of it happens in one evening.
ArtNight Pasadena, the city’s twice-yearly cultural open house produced by the Cultural Affairs Division, returns Friday, March 13, from 6 to 10 p.m. with 19 venues offering visual art, dance, music, and live performances across four free shuttle routes. The event, which won the Pasadena Weekly’s 2024 “Best Annual Event” award, draws from institutions as varied as ArtCenter College of Design and Kidspace Children’s Museum, according to a City of Pasadena press release.
This spring’s edition carries a notable thread of Japanese and pan-Asian arts programming woven through several venues. At the Gamble House, 4 Westmoreland Place, the exhibition “From Strand to Sculpture: Contemporary Japanese Basketry” fills the Greene and Greene landmark with bamboo art on loan from the Thoma Foundation in Dallas. Visitors can try their hand at basket-making in a workshop led by artist Kelly Dennis Villalba, while Jazz Crosswinds — a group that blends Japanese koto with guitar, bass, and drums — performs throughout the evening, according to the Gamble House.
The Shumei Arts Council, 2430 E. Colorado Blvd., offers Makoto Taiko drumming performances at 6:15, 7:15, 8:15, and 9:15 p.m., a casual Japanese tea ceremony, and a gallery display titled “The Heart that Seeks Beauty,” according to the city’s ArtNight website.
At ArtCenter’s Mullin Gallery, 1111 S. Arroyo Parkway, the exhibition “2-Yokai: Andy Fedak and Bruce Yonemoto” presents animated surrealistic vignettes exploring Japanese mythological spirits, alongside the 1987 film “Kappa” featuring drawings by artist Mike Kelley, according to the city’s ArtNight website.
USC Pacific Asia Museum, 46 N. Los Robles Ave., opens its exhibition “Mythical Creatures: The Stories We Carry” for the evening. Conceived by Los Angeles-based Korean American artist Dave Young Kim, the museum-wide installation blends approximately 100 objects from the museum’s collection — spanning more than 5,000 years — with contemporary works and new media technology, according to USC Pacific Asia Museum. The exhibition draws on pan-Asian mythology and the immigrant experience across 12 immersive rooms.
The Norton Simon Museum, 411 W. Colorado Blvd., offers a particular draw this spring. The museum’s Sculpture Garden, which was closed throughout most of 2025 for a $14 million exterior improvement project that included pond reconstruction, new pathways, and upgraded landscaping, is now open and available for ArtNight visitors for the first time since the renovation, according to the museum. Inside, works by Raphael, Rembrandt, Monet, Van Gogh, and Picasso are on view, along with the museum’s South and Southeast Asian sculpture collection.
ArtNight’s reach extends well beyond the Asian arts thread. ArtCenter’s HMCT Gallery, 950 S. Raymond Ave., presents “Primarium: A Case for Cursive,” a research-driven exhibition exploring cursive writing instruction across more than 40 countries, while the Williamson Gallery on the Hillside Campus features “Dave Muller: Proto Typical,” which includes paintings, a newly commissioned wall mural, and a functioning record store installation, according to the city’s ArtNight website.
At Pasadena City College, 1570 E. Colorado Blvd., the Art Galleries present a solo exhibition of paintings by Altadena artist Mark Steven Greenfield alongside student work. Greenfield, a native Angeleno and son of a Tuskegee Airman, has exhibited widely and served as director of both the Watts Towers Arts Center and the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, according to Pasadena Now. At the Alkebu-lan Cultural Center, 1435 N. Raymond Ave., Altadena artist Sam Pace is the featured artist, with live painting by Riea Owens and jazz by Clazzical Notes, according to the city’s ArtNight website.
The Jackie Robinson Community Center, 1020 N. Fair Oaks Ave., presents “GLOW: Art That Shines,” an interactive exhibit featuring glow-in-the-dark and fluorescent installations, along with Jackie and Mack Robinson memorabilia, according to the city’s ArtNight website. The Pasadena Conservatory of Music, 100 N. Hill Ave., offers continuous classical, multicultural, and interactive performances throughout the evening.
At the Armory Center for the Arts, 145 N. Raymond Ave., visitors can dance to DJ Trankis while viewing “Material Prophecies: Craft as Divination.” Parson’s Nose Theater, 95 N. Marengo Ave., hosts Amapola Players for monologues, poetry, and music. Kidspace Children’s Museum, 480 N. Arroyo Blvd., invites visitors of all ages to contribute to a community mural celebrating resiliency. The Pasadena Unified School District presents No Boundaries 21, its annual TK-12 student art exhibition, at the Paseo, 300 E. Colorado Blvd.
The City’s Arts and Culture Commission funds MiniGrants to support smaller arts groups and individual artists participating in ArtNight, according to the city. Each venue will have a Braille version of the ArtNight brochure. Food trucks are stationed at several venues, including Pie ‘N Burger and Dina’s Dumplings at City Hall and Rodney’s Ribs at the Gamble House.
ArtNight Pasadena has been running for nearly 25 years, according to the city. Pre-pandemic editions drew between 22,000 and 32,000 attendees twice a year, the city reported. Free shuttles on four routes — North, East, Central, and Northwest — connect all 19 venues, and wheelchair-accessible buses are available.
For a complete list of venues and programming, visit ArtNightPasadena.org, which is also available in Spanish. The ArtNight Pasadena Hotline is (626) 744-7887. For accessibility information or materials in alternative formats, call (626) 744-7062.
On a Friday evening in March, 19 doors swing open across Pasadena — and the only ticket is curiosity.
