Azusa Renaisssance Project
The Azusa Renaissance Project is a community cultural development program that offers citywide experiences in the performing arts and trains young Azusans for future participation. Offering alternatives to negative activities, it nurtures the expression of human creativity; cultivates connection, unity, and goodwill; and fosters the recognition and appreciation of the excellence and diversity of local artistic efforts.
Currently housed in the Department of Theater, Film, and Television at Azusa Pacific University, the Azusa Renaissance Project offers local children’s workshops, school and park performances, and an annual production on the main stage at APU that involves community participants and APU students.
History
Azusa citizens and APU alumni created the project in the spring of 2001 following the Citizens Congress in response to the voiced concerns of many congress participants. Operating entirely on personal donations and working with community members, the Downtown Business Association, APU faculty and alumni, Azusa Unified School District students and APU students, a production of Rogers’ and Hammerstein’s Cinderella was staged in the parking lot on Azusa Avenue downtown. It drew 1,000 residents over two weekends, more than 200 of whom sat through an unexpected rainfall.
Additionally, participants collaborated with the Azusa Homework House and offered acting classes to children in Azusa. That summer at Pioneer Park, the young graduates of the workshop performed a short show of their own creation illustrating problem-solving and community-building techniques.
In August of that year, the program produced a local show that encouraged residents to conserve energy by going outdoors during the hot summer nights to engage in a community activity. Participants rewrote Rapunzel, and presented a heroic prince who was unable to convince Rapunzel to leave her imprisoning tower to join him because she wanted to stay inside and watch television. The children in the audience were enlisted to demonstrate for Rapunzel the many fun activities she might enjoy by venturing outdoors. Although we provided a few props, the most convincing arguments were those stemming from the imaginations of the children themselves.
Past Productions
Future Goals
The Azusa Renaissance Project endeavors to weave itself into the fabric of the community, evolving into one of many focal points for the city’s culturally diverse, rich heritage. As the City of Azusa continues to build civic pride and identity in the San Gabriel Valley, the Azusa Renaissance Project provides an important outlet for the personal and corporate expression of its citizens. A central task of the organization will be to connect the cultural events of the APU campus with its community and vice versa, drawing college audiences to local venues and events ranging from high school plays to museum exhibits and coffee house performances.
A major step in this direction is the formation of an Azusa Renaissance Team, which would include students and alumni that would enrich and empower the youth of our community by providing performing arts workshops for one or two hundred children over the coming year. We know from past experience with our brief grant from the Lily Foundation and the subsequent success of the Sierra High program that workshops are the best way to develop the kind of relationships needed to get our students involved in the community and the community involved in our theater program.
