A few current Light Bringer Projects
Metro Gallery
Pasadena Doo Dah Parade
Arroyo-Seco Trails Project
Mission:
To Build Communities through the Power of the Arts.
Sponsoring Organization:
Light Bringer Project is a nonprofit, Pasadena-based arts organization founded in 1990 by residents who were exploring the historic contributions that artists, architects and craftsmen made to the local environment. Inspired by these achievements, its founders imagined ways to bring more of today’s artists and their creative resources into the mainstream of community life.
In keeping with its mission “to build community through the power of the arts,” Light Bringer Project has delivered a range of unique cultural arts programs and special events that utilize high-degrees of collaboration, volunteerism and community-wide support. For its arts and learning efforts, the organization has received the California League of Cities’ Helen Putnam Award of Excellence in Public-Private Partnership. As an arts community participant, the organization was given the Gold Crown Award from the Pasadena Arts Council and has received an award of Outstanding Service from the City of Pasadena Arts Commission.
Programs & Services:
Light Bringer Project programs and activities serve those of all ages and backgrounds, with a special emphasis on youth and education. Notable among these are:
- Room 13 (Official launch site: James Foshay Learning Center, South Central Los Angeles) This international program was begun in Coal, Scotland by primary school students who managed to create their own self-sustaining art studio and influence students in other countries to follow their lead. At the present time, Room 13 is operating in Mumbay, India, Katmandu, Nepal, England, Ireland and South Africa. The global model is aiming to expand to Hong Kong and create two additional stuios in Africa in 2008. Room 13 Los Angeles is the first one in North America.
- Ad&Design Academy (L.A. advertising headquarters)
-A partnership with major advertising and marketing firms, including TBWA/Chiat/Day, Rub Postaer & Associates (RPA), GreyWorldwide, Muse Advertising & the Phelps Group. The Academy engages senior high school public school youth in the professional work environment while illuminating the many disciplines associated with the advertising, marketing, design and communication fields. The program is designed to strengthen learning and communication skills through mentorships, standards-aligned curriculum and student-driven team building projects. - Expressing Feelings Through Art (Los Angeles County High Schools)
Founded by the Department of Mental Health over 25 years ago, this prevention program is delivered by Light Bringer Project in partnership with the Mental Health Association of Los Angeles County. It serves senior high school students across LA County who are challenged to develop visual and written forms of personal expression that address their key concerns and life ambitions. The program culminates in an annual public exhibition and scholarship awards ceremony honoring outstanding student achievements. - Pasadena Chalk Festival (Paseo Colorado, Pasadena)
With approximately 600 participating visual artists from all over Southern California, it has grown to become the largest street painting festival in the world. The past year’s 15th anniversary event attracted a crowd of over 70,000 to Paseo Colorado in Pasadena’s civic center over the course of the two-day weekend. - Pasadena Doo Dah Parade (Old Pasadena)
Doo Dah’s 32nd occasional parade will celebrate the post-holiday season in its typically satirical style. Traditionally a spoof of Pasadena’s Rose Parade, Doo Dah sends up a woolly range of mischiefs, grounded superheroes, political pundits, homegrown satirists, art car inventors, and other bohemian frolickers. Classic Doo Dah marchers include Claude Rains & the 20-Man Memorial Invisible Marching Drill Team. The event is free to the public. www.pasadenadoodahparade.info. - Zorthian Ranch Oral History Project (Conducted in Pasadena/Altadena area)
Any account of local artistic developments in the last half-century must include the Zorthian Ranch, which held a position of notoriety-over and underground-throughout the time period. Its’ regular visitors spanned the arts and sciences, generations, ethnic/cultural backgrounds and social strata. Many former visitors are now elders or have since relocated. Because of this, we are in danger of losing first-hand accounts of the key people and events that shaped the Ranch’s vitality and experience. The Zorthian Ranch Oral History Project seeks to record these personal narratives as a means of preserving the legacy of the place as a unique social and creative enclave. In pursuit of this, the Project will be professionally guided and utilize best known practices and interview techniques. In the end, the compilation of work will tell a larger story of how alternative and mainstream culture progressed through the years and significantly influenced our community’s cultural life. - Salons at the Castle (Historic Castle Green in Pasadena)
Guests attending enjoy highly original artists presenting anything from genre music, classical piano, to live theatre performance. Each salon is different and is staged quarterly in the elegant Grand Salon or Ballroom of the historically preserved turn-of-the-century landmark. Performing artists’ talents are supported through this program.
Organizational History:
Light Bringer Project is a nonprofit Pasadena-based cultural arts organization that has served Pasadena and Los Angeles County since 1990. The organization was founded by local residents who became interested in the role the arts, architecture and design have played in the growth and development of their community.
In its first two years, Light Bringer Project completed oral histories of established artists, arts supporters and arts educators who have made significant contributions to their communities and cultural environments. The organization used this research to determine the ways in which its energies and resources could be applied to expand cultural opportunities for those of all ages.
Light Bringer Project became a producer of visual, performing and literary arts programs that highlighted creative ‘voices’ from all sectors of the community.
Partnerships began to unfold in which artists, arts educators and other creative professionals worked in tandem with human service organizations on specific projects and initiatives.
Our activities were designed to create public awareness, cultivate volunteers and bring additional resources to bear on areas of community need.
Specifically, these projects focused on public education, AIDS awareness, the environment, homelessness. economic revitalization, sexual abuse and domestic violence, and other critical areas.
The organization also became a producer of major public art events. The most notable among these are the Absolut Chalk Street Painting Festival and the Pasadena Doo Dah Parade, which continue as annual events and have received national attention. Other large-scale events and activities have included the Arroyo Seco Earth Day Walk, American Indian Festival and Marketplace, and Culture Factory at One Colorado.
In 1997, the organization turned its attention to the pressing need for arts education in the schools. After examining the kind of role Light Bringer could play in support of public education, several programs emerged.
Cultural Passport, a partnership of Light Bringer Project, the Pasadena Public Library, Pasadena Unified School District and major arts organizations, continues to serve middle and high school students, developing literacy skills through arts and learning curriculum and presentations. It has won the California League of Cities’ Helen Putnam Award of Excellence in the area of public-private partnerships.
The organization has partnered with the Neutrogena Corporation in the design and delivery of the FACES Program, a folk art curriculum, exhibition and scholarship program offered to the students of the Los Angeles Unified School District.
In association with the Mental Health Association of LA County, Light Bringer Project administers Expressing Feeling Through Art, a program that exhibits and provides scholarships for students of the Los Angeles County School System.
The Advertising and Design Academy offers mentorship training, team building and portfolio development for upper-level high school students. The Academy currently takes place at TBWA/Chiat/Day Advertising, Grey Advertising and The Phelps Group. Local industry leaders are presently working with our organization to create a regional model of the academy system, commencing in the fall of 2005.
Light Bringer Project, in association with the City of Pasadena Parks & Natural Resources, is participating in the Arroyo Trails Project an effort to restore five trails leading into the Central Arroyo Seco. A team of public and private school students will research the history of the natural parkland, conduct community outreach and recommend design elements to be incorporated into the project.
Through a grant from the California Community Foundation, the organization has created Legacy Projects, an incubation program for artist teams and community groups that desire to contribute their efforts in the community. Project teams are selected on the basis of their merit, community value and their ability to sustain themselves over the coming years.
Light Bringer Project also maintains Metro Gallery at its Old Pasadena location, showcasing the works of emerging visual artists in the Old Pasadena retail and entertainment district.
LightBringerProject.org is having its web cabinets refaced.
The work is moving along in a timely fashion, and when it is done you will smile.
contact information:
tel.: 626 205 4029 (NEW NUMBER)
fax: 626 440 5152
email: lbp@earthlink.net
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