Judy Baca Case Study
Judy Baca: Exploration of California’s Ethnic History
One cool windy fall evening of 1974 Judy Baca was in her California home, sitting on the sofa, watching television, when the phone rang. “Hello?” she asked. “Hello is this Judith Baca?” the voice asked from the other side of the phone. “Yes, this is I. Who is this?” she questioned. “I am Michael Smith. I work for the Army Corps of Engineers. I am calling to ask if you would be willing to paint a mural along the Tujunga Flood Control Channel of the San Fernando Valley as a part of a community beautification project.” “I will gladly help in this project. I do need to know what all it will entail.” Judy responded. “That’s great. I’m glad you have decided to help us in this endeavor. Although …show more content…
we will fund part of this project, you will need to raise a majority of the funds for this project. Please do not let that deter you. We would like to fund the entire project, but as you could guess that is impossible.” Michael explained.
“That is a bit overwhelming, but I will still gladly take part in this project. However, it will take quite a bit of time to raise the funds and have the supplies and people necessary to achieve this goal.” Judy interjected. “Thank you again for participating in this cause. We will be in contact with you.”
Judy sat and thought about the challenge she now faced with enthusiasm and passion.
Before she could begin to plan what she is going to do, she must figure out how she was going to fundraise and bring awareness to the project.
Over the next two years, Judy went around telling people about the beautification project to gain awareness. During this time, she also founded SPARC (Social and Public Art Resource Center). She reached out to many other artists and organizations and asked for funding. One afternoon, while Judy was walking around the park telling people about the project, a very tall, nice looking business man walked up to her. He was dressed in a luxurious blue suit with a white button down collared shirt and a blue and white striped tie and black leather dress shoes. “What is a man dressed like that doing in the park at this time of day?” Judy wondered.
“Hello, Judy. I am Lionel Ross the CEO of Ross Industries. We are very big on community activities and have heard that you and SPARC are raising money to improve our community and get the youth involved with a cause and off the streets. I support what you are doing; my firm and I want to help you enhance our community.”
“Wow! Thank you very much. I appreciate the support you have given towards the cause.” Judy
replied.
They then exchanged information. The next day when Judy’s financial manager checked the funds, SPARC had received a $20,000 donation from Ross Industries. That was just one of the many ways Baca raised money for the Great Wall of Los Angeles. Other fundraising activities were things like car washes, bake sales, going to different community organizations and asking for sponsors; “SPARC received a great deal of support for the project from governmental juvenile justice funding sources.” Another issue Judy faced was finding people to work on the mural. “People were recruited and interviewed. Those who passed were assistants and participated in both the planning and execution of the mural. The “Mural Makers,” mostly from low income families, were paid by the Summer Youth Employment Program.” Many of the people employed by the Great Wall were from “different social and economic backgrounds.”
Next Judy had to decide what she actually wanted the mural to about. One day while Judy is lying down in her dark cozy room swaddled in a thick Aztec patterned quilt, she was thinking about what she wanted to paint; trying to pull inspiration from anything. “What do I want to do? What will people like? I want to something people will like, but it needs to be meaningful. Maybe I should do something that relates the people who live in the community. Maybe it can be about the community’s culture.” when suddenly, “That’s it!” Judy exclaimed. “It will be about the history of the city, but from the point of view of the ethnic peoples of California. What will it show? Oh! I got it! It will span from the prehistoric to the 1950’s. This is fantastic! It is something everyone can connect with and be a part of!” Now that all the fundamentals are handled, all she has left to worry about is how well the workers are going to get along. She knows that they are from different walks of life, some of which are from the more troubled areas of the community.
Being that many of the workers were from different backgrounds, you could assume there were some tensions that existed due to stereotypes and stigmas about certain people. Some of the people did not get along very well. For instance Phillipe and Tommy did not get along very well initially. Phillipe was Mexican and Tommy was Puerto Rican and Mexicans and Puerto Ricans stereotypically have an animosity towards each other. Tommy and Phillipe’s early interaction sounded something like this:
“Hey, stupid, take your rat face home and never come back! No one likes you anyway” Phillipe would yell at Tommy.
“Well at least I have home I can go to unlike you. All you have is that shack you call a house, fence jumper!” Tommy would retort in response.
That was their interaction for the first couple of weeks throughout the entire day of work. Many of the people working on the Great Wall had similar problems. “I can’t stand these people.” Paul remarked “Yea, seriously I don’t even want to be here. I was forced to do this by my mom.” Joshua complained. “All I wanted to do was paint.” whined Alice. It had gotten so bad that people wanted to leave the project. By the second week nearly half of the workers wanted to leave. One of the supervisors, Ernestine, said she thinks “everyone wanted to fight everybody…” Although this was an initial road block, morale obviously got better because the mural was finished. Ernestine also said “after time, you just got to know that person as an individual instead of knowing them as you’re taught to. Everybody became very good friends.” Finally the mural was finished. The Great Wall was full of rich and vibrant colors. The images jumped off the wall and demanded the attention of anyone observing it. It was oozing with knowledge of the history of minorities in California and how they were affected during every different stage in history. The Great Wall is something that will continuously be added to can people can connect with. It makes the ethnic people of California feel appreciated and represented in the community, something everyone regards less of ethnic should be able to feel in the wonderful land of America.
One cool windy fall evening of 1974 Judy Baca was in her California home, sitting on the sofa, watching television, when the phone rang. “Hello?” she asked. “Hello is this Judith Baca?” the voice asked from the other side of the phone. “Yes, this is I. Who is this?” she questioned. “I am Michael Smith. I work for the Army Corps of Engineers. I am calling to ask if you would be willing to paint a mural along the Tujunga Flood Control Channel of the San Fernando Valley as a part of a community beautification project.” “I will gladly help in this project. I do need to know what all it will entail.” Judy responded. “That’s great. I’m glad you have decided to help us in this endeavor. Although …show more content…
we will fund part of this project, you will need to raise a majority of the funds for this project. Please do not let that deter you. We would like to fund the entire project, but as you could guess that is impossible.” Michael explained.
“That is a bit overwhelming, but I will still gladly take part in this project. However, it will take quite a bit of time to raise the funds and have the supplies and people necessary to achieve this goal.” Judy interjected. “Thank you again for participating in this cause. We will be in contact with you.”
Judy sat and thought about the challenge she now faced with enthusiasm and passion.
Before she could begin to plan what she is going to do, she must figure out how she was going to fundraise and bring awareness to the project.
Over the next two years, Judy went around telling people about the beautification project to gain awareness. During this time, she also founded SPARC (Social and Public Art Resource Center). She reached out to many other artists and organizations and asked for funding. One afternoon, while Judy was walking around the park telling people about the project, a very tall, nice looking business man walked up to her. He was dressed in a luxurious blue suit with a white button down collared shirt and a blue and white striped tie and black leather dress shoes. “What is a man dressed like that doing in the park at this time of day?” Judy wondered.
“Hello, Judy. I am Lionel Ross the CEO of Ross Industries. We are very big on community activities and have heard that you and SPARC are raising money to improve our community and get the youth involved with a cause and off the streets. I support what you are doing; my firm and I want to help you enhance our community.”
“Wow! Thank you very much. I appreciate the support you have given towards the cause.” Judy
replied.
They then exchanged information. The next day when Judy’s financial manager checked the funds, SPARC had received a $20,000 donation from Ross Industries. That was just one of the many ways Baca raised money for the Great Wall of Los Angeles. Other fundraising activities were things like car washes, bake sales, going to different community organizations and asking for sponsors; “SPARC received a great deal of support for the project from governmental juvenile justice funding sources.” Another issue Judy faced was finding people to work on the mural. “People were recruited and interviewed. Those who passed were assistants and participated in both the planning and execution of the mural. The “Mural Makers,” mostly from low income families, were paid by the Summer Youth Employment Program.” Many of the people employed by the Great Wall were from “different social and economic backgrounds.”
Next Judy had to decide what she actually wanted the mural to about. One day while Judy is lying down in her dark cozy room swaddled in a thick Aztec patterned quilt, she was thinking about what she wanted to paint; trying to pull inspiration from anything. “What do I want to do? What will people like? I want to something people will like, but it needs to be meaningful. Maybe I should do something that relates the people who live in the community. Maybe it can be about the community’s culture.” when suddenly, “That’s it!” Judy exclaimed. “It will be about the history of the city, but from the point of view of the ethnic peoples of California. What will it show? Oh! I got it! It will span from the prehistoric to the 1950’s. This is fantastic! It is something everyone can connect with and be a part of!” Now that all the fundamentals are handled, all she has left to worry about is how well the workers are going to get along. She knows that they are from different walks of life, some of which are from the more troubled areas of the community.
Being that many of the workers were from different backgrounds, you could assume there were some tensions that existed due to stereotypes and stigmas about certain people. Some of the people did not get along very well. For instance Phillipe and Tommy did not get along very well initially. Phillipe was Mexican and Tommy was Puerto Rican and Mexicans and Puerto Ricans stereotypically have an animosity towards each other. Tommy and Phillipe’s early interaction sounded something like this:
“Hey, stupid, take your rat face home and never come back! No one likes you anyway” Phillipe would yell at Tommy.
“Well at least I have home I can go to unlike you. All you have is that shack you call a house, fence jumper!” Tommy would retort in response.
That was their interaction for the first couple of weeks throughout the entire day of work. Many of the people working on the Great Wall had similar problems. “I can’t stand these people.” Paul remarked “Yea, seriously I don’t even want to be here. I was forced to do this by my mom.” Joshua complained. “All I wanted to do was paint.” whined Alice. It had gotten so bad that people wanted to leave the project. By the second week nearly half of the workers wanted to leave. One of the supervisors, Ernestine, said she thinks “everyone wanted to fight everybody…” Although this was an initial road block, morale obviously got better because the mural was finished. Ernestine also said “after time, you just got to know that person as an individual instead of knowing them as you’re taught to. Everybody became very good friends.” Finally the mural was finished. The Great Wall was full of rich and vibrant colors. The images jumped off the wall and demanded the attention of anyone observing it. It was oozing with knowledge of the history of minorities in California and how they were affected during every different stage in history. The Great Wall is something that will continuously be added to can people can connect with. It makes the ethnic people of California feel appreciated and represented in the community, something everyone regards less of ethnic should be able to feel in the wonderful land of America.