Portraits of Hope
Lifeguard Towers Transformation
Los Angeles Coastline
Changing the Face of LA’s Beaches
- An historic, one-of-a-kind, visual transformation of LA’s famed beaches during peak season.
- A major civic engagement project involving thousands of youth and adults from schools, hospitals, and social service programs.
- More than 100 life guard towers in a row.
- Spanning more than 30 miles of LA’s world famous coastline.
- 45 million beach visitors.
- World renown Zuma, Malibu, Santa Monica, “Baywatch,” Venice, Marina Del Rey, Playa Del Rey, Manhattan and Hermosa Beaches connected tower by tower.
- Dynamic, vivid colors and designs.
- Seen from land, air, and water.
Portraits of Hope is proud to announce that we have received the official government approval to embark on what promises to be an incredible project.
With that approval, we are now preparing for this project that will engage thousands of youth and adults in an ENRICHING, HIGH-PROFILE, CIVIC and PUBLIC art project that will visually transform 30 miles of LA’s beaches and their world-renowned lifeguard towers, icons of Southern California’s coastline.
The project will incorporate Portraits of Hope’s integrated themes of public art, civic education, community engagement, creative therapy, and teamwork. We've been working on the groundwork for several months now and expect to involve between 5,000 and 7,500 kids and adults in school, hospital, and social services program sessions.
The Project
For many decades, Los Angeles lifeguard towers have been a sun-washed shade of blue. That will change through a major new Portraits of Hope public art and civic initiative.
For five months, LA’s legendary beach towers will come to life in vivid designs and colors – transforming the nation’s most recognized coastline – and capturing the attention of and engaging millions of Angelenos, visitors, tourists, and viewers directly and through media profiles.
The tower artwork will be created on temporary, professionally installed, soft-material, and flex thin-board panels that will be applied onto the outer surface of the tower structure itself.
The anticipated start of the 5-month exhibition will be May 1, 2010, and the installation will remain through the end of September 2010.
Beginning in the late fall of 2009, Portraits of Hope will conduct programmatic sessions 7-days a week in schools, hospitals, social service forums, and other selected locations, which will lead to the creations that envelope the towers in the vivid, colorful artwork.
For the 4 -5 month programmatic phase – and as part of their participation in the project – youngsters and adults will be involved in hand-painting vivid, stand-out designs on form-fitting art panels that will be installed on the 4-sided towers and their roof tops – enveloping the towers. The public art exhibition will strikingly transform the signature beaches.
The public service elements:
Portraits of Hope projects combine civic education and engagement with the visual and healing arts, providing youngsters and adults who often face medical, physical, or socio-economic challenges with an opportunity to collaborate on world class projects and accomplish the spectacular.
As part of the collaborative program to artistically transform the lifeguard towers, LA-area youth and others – most who will participate through their educational institutions – will partake in civic learning sessions and activities that allow them to express their views on policy issues and on the importance of teamwork and broad cooperation in affecting positive change in their communities. Consistent with the locations of the lifeguard towers, an emphasis on environmental and healthy life-styles issues will be focal points of the sessions.
For children in the hospitals, the project will serve as creative therapy, and attention will be focused on the activities associated with the specialized creation of the tower panels. The ages of those who will participate in the hospital range from toddler to 17. Most of the kids in the school, after-school, and social service programs who will be involved in the project are 9 and up.
The program sessions will be implemented directly at schools, hospitals, and other youth service facilities, as well as other civic and retail locations.
The project provides an iconic platform that will showcase the collective and spectacular achievement of LA's youth and adults while providing young people with an enriching educational opportunity.
Attention to All Portraits of Hope Supporters
Please let us know of or put us in contact w ith any potential corporate sponsors who you think would like to promote their corporate citizenship and brand in a most high-profile way. This is a prominent, high-impact opportunity for a civic-minded brand to be part of redefining LA’s coastline, involve the region’s population, and break through the clutter.