The Living Arts & Science Center programs are hands-on and interactive instruction in arts and science directly from professional educators and active artists and scientists. Activities include collaborative experiences for the community, educational programs in schools, community centers, and other venues as well as free programming for all members of the Central Kentucky community.

The LASC also offers education tailored to special needs, at-risk and under-served children and adults. The staff and board of directors support this mission by maintaining high ethical standards and efficient oversight of the LASC.

The LASC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

Our Story

In the 1960s, the Junior League of Lexington began making plans to establish an art and science center. Between 1965 and 1968, Junior League members met with leaders of local, regional, and national arts and science organizations to discuss their plans, and brought professional consultants to Lexington to assess the community’s needs and resources. Finding strong support for an art and science center in Lexington, Junior League members established The Living Arts & Science Center (LASC) in 1968.

The LASC today is a unique and treasured cultural institution that reaches over 45,000 Kentuckians a year with innovative educational programs that augment traditional school programs and put a premium on fostering creativity. The arts and sciences have co-mingled and cross-fertilized each other for thousands of years. It is no different at the LASC! From experiential learning in cooking and pottery to astronomy and digital painting.  Our emphasis on both arts and science recognizes the value of hands-on, interactive experiences to learning, understanding, and creativity.

The LASC is unique in Central Kentucky –  nowhere else can one find the diversity of learning opportunities offered to individuals, schools, artists, and agencies.  The LASC is dedicated to making the arts and science — especially participation in these disciplines — accessible to all. LASC programming is offered at our downtown Lexington location as well as in schools, community centers, libraries, hospitals, parks, and other facilities throughout the Commonwealth.

Downtown Facilities

The LASC is located in the beautiful Kinkead House, a stately home built by George B. Kinkead in 1847. Kinkead is notable in Kentucky’s history in several ways. Born in Woodford County Kentucky in 1811, Kinkead became a distinguished Kentucky lawyer and was appointed Secretary of State in 1846 by Governor Owsley. An abolitionist, in 1850 Kinkead became an attorney for Abraham Lincoln and his wife Mary Todd.

Following the Civil War, Kinkead developed a neighborhood for freed African Americans on land he acquired adjacent to the Kinkead House. This several-block area came to be known as Kinkead Town and at one time included as many as 300 families. The Kinkead House was loaned to The Living Arts & Science Center in 1970. In 1981, members of the Kinkead family donated the building and 1.5 acres to the LASC.

The LASC opened the Lucille Caudill Little Discovery Center as an addition to the Kinkead House in 2016, after a $5.5 million dollar renovation and expansion project that more than doubled its physical space. The LASC downtown campus now offers over 15,000 square feet of programming space that now includes a computer lab, a science exhibition hall, a professional kitchen for teaching, an art gallery, and Lexington’s only public planetarium.