Ever Present: No Wave Women at the Getty

If you are scanning the list of things to do in Los Angeles this weekend and want something that is not another rooftop happy hour, the Getty Center has built an entire free afternoon around a single, loaded idea: what it meant for women to drive No Wave, not just show up inside it. "Ever Present: A Moveable Feast of No: No Wave Women with Adele Bertei" turns the museum's terraces and courtyard into a running series of performances on Sunday, October 4, 2026, timed to the release of Bertei's new memoir.

Bertei, a former member of The Contortions and a star of Lizzie Borden's film "Born in Flames," opens her book with the argument that No Wave's noise, image and ecstatic refusal in late-1970s and early-1980s New York was driven by women in ways that rarely get credit. This event is her answer: a lineup built to put those women, and the artists carrying that spirit forward today, on stage together.

What to expect

The day runs as a loose schedule rather than a single set. The Maria Schneider Guitar Army, a roaming collective of guitar-wielding noisemakers, opens at 3 p.m. Bertei's own trio MITH, with Adee Roberson and Anna Luisa Petrisko, plays the Garden Terrace at 4 p.m., followed by a 4:30 p.m. run of words and sounds from contributors including Julia Heyward, Zoe Hansen, Tammy Faye Starlight, Felice Rosser and Eszter Balint. The Courtyard Stage takes over in the evening: Ikue Mori of DNA revisits her hypnotic 2010 collaboration with Julianna Barwick at 6 p.m., and the downtown mainstay Bush Tetras close the night at 7 p.m.

None of this reads as a nostalgia act. The program treats No Wave as an attitude that keeps reappearing in new collaborations rather than a fixed historical style, which is why younger and older performers share the same bill.

Practical info and getting there

When: Sunday, October 4, 2026, starting 3 p.m. Where: Getty Center, 1200 Getty Center Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90049 Price: Free, with a timed entry reservation through the Getty's ticketing page Parking: A separate fee applies for on-site parking

Admission is free, but the Getty requires a timed entry ticket that also serves as your reservation to enter the Center, so reserve one ahead of the date rather than showing up and hoping. The Getty tram runs continuously from the parking structure, which matters if you are weighing this against other LA events this weekend and want to budget your afternoon realistically; give yourself extra time for the tram ride up the hill before the 3 p.m. start.

Brentwood's hilltop location keeps this one slightly removed from the traffic of the rest of the city's events calendar, but the view alone is worth the trip, and the performances span enough hours that arriving late for the Garden Terrace sets still leaves Bush Tetras and the Courtyard Stage ahead of you. For anyone building out a fuller slate of upcoming events in Los Angeles this month, pairing an afternoon at the Getty with an evening elsewhere in the city is an easy way to make a single Sunday count twice.