The Hammer Museum offers an array of lectures and book signings available to the public at low costs or at no cost.
http://hammer.ucla.edu/programs/detail/program_id/126 Last night I attended a 'conversation' with Sir Ken Robinson's new book,
The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything. It's a collection of real stories about people who are "passionate about what they do and couldn't imagine doing anything else." Fascinating. You can also see him speak at
http://www.ted.com.