Mellody Hobson and her husband are opening the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles on September 22. The privately funded project cost approximately $1 billion.
Hobson co-chairs the museum's board of directors. Alongside her cultural leadership, she serves as co-CEO of Ariel Investments and holds a seat on the board of JPMorgan Chase, where she is also a member of the risk committee. Hobson joined the JPMorgan board in 2018 and has co-run Ariel Investments since 2019.
JPMorgan and Blockchain Operations
JPMorgan has emerged as a prominent institutional voice in digital assets. The bank's blockchain unit, Kinexys, has processed more than $3 trillion since its inception and averages over $5 billion in daily volume. Additionally, the bank opened its JPM Coin deposit token, JPMD, to institutional clients on Base, an Ethereum layer-2 network built by Coinbase.
In July, South Korea's KB Kookmin Bank announced plans to begin routing dollar trade payments over the Kinexys network starting in August. Consequently, the risk committee on which Hobson sits oversees a financial institution that settles billions of dollars onchain.
Inside the Lucas Museum
George Lucas built the museum's collection around narrative storytelling rather than traditional abstraction. The building houses more than 1,300 pieces and 30,000 comic books, featuring works by artists such as Frida Kahlo and Norman Rockwell alongside Star Wars artifacts like Luke's landspeeder and General Grievous's wheel bike.
Curators also included a Banksy gallery on the fifth floor, featuring two walls of works—including the silhouette of a girl releasing a heart-shaped balloon—alongside pieces by Diego Rivera, Judith Baca, and JR.
After spending more than a decade pursuing sites in San Francisco and Chicago, Lucas ultimately secured a location in Los Angeles.
