nimoy project overview

Project Overview

In 2018, CAP UCLA and the School of the Arts and Architecture acquired The Crest Theatre on Westwood Boulevard. A landmark venue dating back to depression-era 1940s, The Crest will be transformed into a new off-campus performing arts space that will be operated and managed by CAP UCLA.

Thanks to a $5 million dollar lead gift from Susan Bay Nimoy, the venue will be named the UCLA Nimoy Theater in honor of artist, actor, director and philanthropist Leonard Nimoy. We will call it The Nimoy.

The Nimoy will feature an intimate space – up to 299 seats. This scale will support artists and productions that are more experimental, provocative or better suited for houses that are smaller than Royce Hall or The Theatre at the Ace Hotel, CAP UCLA’s two main venues.

Performances will include theater, music, spoken word, projections, screenings, VR projects, and occasional dance by smaller contemporary companies. The intention is for live performances to be presented five nights per week, with a commitment to diversity, production and artistic values, community access and artistic freedom.

The Nimoy represents a crucial aspect of our mission. CAP UCLA seeks to add vitality to the performing arts ecosystem of Los Angeles. We aim to serve artists who represent future generations and emphasize underserved cultural practices. The Nimoy’s affordability and innovative model are informed by a moral imperative toward the future of the field. Its intimacy is not just a matter of architecture, but core to its essence as a dwelling for diverse creativity. The Nimoy’s founding collaborative ethos is designed to provide opportunities for artistic communities to carry their work, vision, heritage, missions and public practices forward.

To prepare for a future that is changing exponentially and ensure that the evolving perspectives of performing artists a part of that future, and that they have a place to share their work with the public.
To cultivate the conditions that enable emerging and next-generation artists and underserved cultural practices to thrive within a collaborative model and in an inviting venue.
To restore a long-dormant cultural asset that serves the needs and interests of performance creators/makers/creative producers within Los Angeles.
To restore access to a highly desired and affluent area of Los Angeles for independent artists and itinerant not-for-profits.
To design and equip the venue with the tools and materials that artists need to support their diverse practices and public-facing ideas.
To generate an operating model that re-imagines how equity is achieved across radically different financial capacities, geographies, generations, cultures and performance forms.
To support great artistry that seeks high visibility at an intimate scale.
To bring forward the next generation of makers alongside the current generation at work in the field.
To advance UCLA’s public mission.

The key to The Nimoy’s operating model will be a consortium of community partners.

CAP UCLA sees The Nimoy as a programming home for multiple organizations and independent artists with an underlying ethos to serve the needs of many organizations and practitioners through a shared philosophy of advancing access to contemporary performing arts. The goal is to reach that vision by combining our leadership strength and programmatic ingenuity as a collaborative consortium.

The Nimoy will be a valuable asset for UCLA.

Through the Herb Alpert School of Music, the Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance, and the School of Theater, Film and Television, the university is committed to nurturing emerging creative talent and enriching Los Angeles’ vibrant cultural sector. The renowned artists and practitioners who teach at UCLA have shaped generations of performing artists and been at the heart of contemporary performing arts on the West Coast for a century. The Nimoy will serve these artists alongside emerging artists as a vibrant performance venue close to campus.

While Royce Hall is in the center of UCLA’s campus, The Nimoy is located in a vibrant area of Westwood Village (Little Persia), a block from the redesigned Hammer Museum.

The location is close to a future stop of the LA Metro Purple Line, which will link Downtown Los Angeles to Westwood with highspeed, high-capacity and dependable public transportation.