The Performance Art Museum presents Public Spirits, a free, day-long festival of performance art on Friday, October 23, 2026, featuring performances by Jade Guanaro Kuriki-Olivo (Puppies Puppies), Pau S. Pescador, Da Ron Vinson, and Ryat Yezbick. Curated by PAM Associate Curators Leon Hilton and Anuradha Vikram, the festival brings together artists who approach performance as a form of public speech and a means of intervening in civic life in a spirit of resistance and criticality. Presented at publicly accessible sites in the neighborhood surrounding The Performance Building, PAM’s new home at 109 W. College Street, Public Spirits presents commissioned works engaging urgent social and political questions affecting marginalized and targeted communities.

Public Spirits is presented as part of PAM’s two-year exploration of the history and legacy of High Performance, the Los Angeles–based magazine that, from 1978 to 1997, provided a vital forum for artists working across performance, activism, and community-based practices. The festival draws inspiration from and pays homage to Public Spirit: Live Art L.A., the first Los Angeles performance art festival, organized by LACE and the Highland Art Agents in 1980 and documented in the pages of High Performance.

On the cusp of the 2026 midterm elections, Public Spirits brings this history into the present, demonstrating how performance art can reshape perceptions and activate new forms of civic engagement and critical reflection.