Other Programs
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:
Expressing Feelings Through Art (Los Angeles County High Schools)
Expressing Feelings Through Art, is an arts and literacy prevention program delivered to public high school students of L.A. County. Begun in 1982, the program is a partnership of Light Bringer Project, a community-based nonprofit, and Mental Health America of Los Angeles, which is dedicated to service and education for mental health recovery and wellness. Expressing Feelings Through Art (EFTA) is highly valued by faculty participants and serves approximately 600 students per year.
In the course of the program, students in 9th through 12th grades are challenged to create works of art that tell stories that hold personal meanings for them. Topics run the gamut of subject matter and emotional tone and are often as moving as they are original. The students must also engage in an exercise of writing that sheds light on their visual imagery, provoking a thoughtful articulation of the stories they were artistically driven to tell.
A standards-based syllabus and instructional guidebook is also provided to each teacher. The curriculum, itself, is designed to broaden the students’ understanding of traditional and contemporary artmaking techniques, and to help strengthen their creative voices. For many of the students who find artmaking to be cathartic, this mentored self-exploration is very powerful. At year’s end, a jury of community artists and writers give awards and small scholarships to outstanding students.
The Annual EFTA Exhibition and Awards Receptions have been held throughout Los Angeles, to provide easy access to all the students and families of L.A. County. These locations include: The Simon Wiesenthal Museum of Tolerance, Art Center College of Design, Los Angeles City Hall, Pasadena Central Library, Watts Towers Arts Center, Olvera Street Art Gallery, Beverly Hills City Hall, Otis College of Art and Design, TBWA\Chiat\Day Advertising Agency, Polytechnic High School, Hollywood Library, and the Judson Gallery at Judson Studios.
We believe that EFTA has contributed greatly to the students’ self-esteem, and has gone a long way to build their visual and communication skills. Perhaps, equally important, it gives them a positive outlet through which they can tell us what matters to them most.
24-Hour Gallery
An outdoor gallery featuring emerging and contemporary visual artists of the Los Angeles community. Watch for news of our new location soon.
Community Advocacy
Light Bringer Project has a policy of volunteering and supporting organizations (arts and non-arts related) and serving various sectors of the community. Many of us sit on boards of directors and sit on committees, supporting with our energies and expertise. Pictured here is Artist-In-Residence at Room13/JohnMuir High School, Mri Scott ElBey, speaking at her Leadership Pasadena graduation ceremony last year. Tom Coston served as one of the founding board members of LP, and helped steer the organization in its early years. Patricia Hurley then continued Light Bringer’s participation on the board, and as a coordinator for the annual Arts & Culture session. After having completed the year-long leadership training course, Mri joined the Board of Directors. In this way, Light Bringer keeps the arts alive in the minds and hearts of emerging leaders in Pasadena’s professional community.
Zorthian Ranch Oral History Project (Conducted in the greater Pasadena/Los Angeles area)
Over the last half-century, Altadena’s Zorthian Ranch became a nexus of bohemian activity, attracting figures of influence from all walks of life, spanning the arts and sciences. Along with many others, Light Bringer Project recognized a need to preserve the history of the Zorthian Ranch through the personal accounts of family members and notable friends and associates. Without a deliberate attempt to capture these stories, many of them will be lost forever. In the larger picture, we will have neglected to document the creative vitality and originality that Jirayr and Dabney Zorthian and others brought to our local environment. The Project, specifically, hopes to document and transcribe thirty oral histories which will become publicly accessible at a variety of community venues and available on the internet.
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, to art exhibitions. Each SALON is different and is staged in the elegant Grand Salon or Ballroom of the historically preserved turn-of-the-century landmark. Visual and performing artists’ talents are supported through this program.