Summons To Celebrate is a new presentation by Heidi Duckler Dance honoring the company’s 41st anniversary of activating and celebrating the libraries, landmarks, and civic spaces that shape our city’s cultural memory. We are especially honored to mark this milestone at the historic Los Angeles Law Library, founded in 1891 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Over the past year, Heidi Duckler Dance has celebrated libraries and civic spaces throughout Los Angeles, affirming that history is not only something preserved from centuries past, but something continually created through our everyday lives, relationships, and collective experiences. In Summons to Celebrate we ask the question, how do we deepen our connection to the world around us? We invite you to gather and join us in an historic reservoir of enchantment.

Meet the Honorees

Jessica Strand is a cultural producer, curator, and author dedicated to the enduring power of the human story. As the Senior Director of Programming and Strategic Engagement for the Library Foundation of Los Angeles, she has spent decades shaping dynamic public spaces across America’s major cultural hubs. Jessica expanded LFLA’s flagship ALOUD series into a robust slate of multi-disciplinary programs, created the foundation’s marquee Night at the Library event, and forged transformative partnerships with institutions like the ACLU, The New York Times, the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the Library of America to radically diversify civic programming.

A natural innovator, Jessica transforms traditional literary events into vibrant, cross-disciplinary community conversations. She has engineered high-profile campaigns that meet people where they are—most notably creating the Books at Noon series at the New York Public Library. During her tenure programming for the iconic Strand Book Store, she conceived a city-wide literacy initiative that integrated books into New York City’s MTA transit system.

Jessica’s commitment to promoting young creators extends globally and institutionally. She serves as a judge and panelist for premier distinctions, including the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction, the Jeannette Haien Ballard Writer’s Prize, and the Amazon Literary Partnership nonprofit grants. She nominates writers for fellowships at the international residency program Civitella Ranieri in Umbria, Italy. 

Jessica is the author of over ten lifestyle books, and has edited anthologies, including Upstairs at the Strand: Writers in Conversation, and has curated the poetry collection Love Found: 50 Classic Poems of Desire, Longing, and Devotion.

Drawn by the uniquely innovative architectural culture of Los Angeles in the 80s and early 90s, John and Alice moved west after finishing graduate school, where they quickly discovered their common approach to architectural form and space-making, as well as the desire to use their skills to improve the urban realm for the benefit of everyone. Soon after combining their efforts, they also began using color, texture, and graphics as powerful storytelling and design tools to help express community identity and shape contemporary culture. Progressive early projects such as LA Design Center in South Los Angeles and Club Sugar received wide recognition, and were quickly followed by inclusive learning environments for LAUSD and Caltech, among others. Their commitment to resilient placemaking also has led to important commissions from socially oriented cities such as Los Angeles and Palm Springs, as well as nonprofits like LA Cleantech Incubator and The United Way. Through design and activism that expand the boundaries of architectural impact, the partners continue to catalyze social change through innovative environmental design. The recipients of multiple national and international awards, most recently John and Alice received two National Honor Awards from the AIA, as well as the LA Chapter’s 2025 Gold Medal.