LOS ANGELES— A 10-week arts festival linked to the Los Angeles Opera's staging of Richard Wagner's "Ring" cycle is planned for spring 2010, reports the Los Angeles Times. The opera will team up with more than 50 Southern California arts and educational institutions — including the Getty Trust, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and UCLA — for Ring Festival L.A., which is being underwritten by a $6 million gift from philanthropist Eli Broad.

The project has been compared to the Olympic Arts Festival, an extension of the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. The idea for Ring first came about in March at a round-table discussion of local arts leaders Plácido Domingo, general director of the L.A. Opera; Michael Govan, director of LACMA; James Wood, chief executive of the Getty Trust; Deborah Borda, president of the Los Angeles Philharmonic; and Michael Ritchie of the Center Theatre Group — the first time the five ever met.

Activities at the festival will relate to Wagner's artistry or some conceptual aspect of the "Ring" cycle. Possibilities include exhibitions of paintings inspired by Wagner's work, screenings of films that incorporate his music, displays of his original scores, or German cooking demonstrations.

The festival will be held April 15 through June 30, 2010, and a calendar of events will be announced in January of that year.