Local dance, music and theater academy receives renovation donation from nonprofits
VISTA, Calif. (FOX 5/KUSI) — Vista dance and music students are about to receive a huge donation from two huge nonprofits, one of which is local and belongs to a multi-Grammy award-winning musician.
Tierra Caliente Academy of Arts started its dance, music and theater nonprofit 10 years ago with its Executive Director José Jaimes’ family and a lot of volunteers. They built the studio from the ground up. Now, it has 155 members of all ages who practice and perform for live audiences.
Just over a year ago, local musician and philanthropist known for his music around the world, Jason Mraz, invited the students from the Tierra Caliente Academy of Arts to dance on stage with him for his special concert called Kaleidoscope at the Escondido Performing Arts Center in February.
“I grew up in programs like this,” said Mraz. “My mom dropped me off at jazz, tap, ballet, drama, chorus.”
Mraz’s special show on Feb. 17 included student dance and music groups form around San Diego County. Some groups were from underserved communities, others were from physically and mentally challenged groups and others were from LGBTQ performance groups. Tierra Caliente Academy invited Mraz to practice with them inside their Vista studio.
“When I did the Kaleidoscope [show] I was really excited and after I started crying because this was the first time I had been on stage with a famous person,” said Tierra Caliente’s executive director’s 10-year-old daughter, Maya Jaimes. She even ended that program with one of Mraz’s most famous songs, singing with him on stage, “I Won’t Give Up.”
“I had the chance to share the stage with them and in this room they taught me their dances and their dance style,” said Mraz. “That is the beauty of the arts. Art reveals a society to itself. I have learned so much from them and I think that is what they want to do, to continue to share their traditions with our community. I’m just so touched by that. I want to help and keep them going.”
Mraz reached out to the founder of the Good Tidings Foundation, Larry Harper. Harper’s family is based in Northern California. Over the last 30 years, Harper’s foundation has built over 200 state of the art performance centers and sports complexes across the country for young people. Many organizations support Good Tidings Foundation: the San Francisco Giants, the Golden State Warriors, The Boys and Girls Club of America, Stephen and Aeysha Curry’s Eat Learn Play, Robert A. Bothman Construction, Larry Hausen Ruffhaus Design Studio and many more. Mraz and his foundation, The Jason Mraz Foundation, worked with Harper to build two other performing arts centers in the San Diego area.
“The Good Tidings Foundation creates opportunities and environments for kids to grow academically, athletically and creatively,” said Mraz. “I called my friends at Good Tidings Foundation and we are here to give [Tierra Caliente] a fresh coat of paint, a remodel, a new dance floor and a new sound system. Just to breathe life into this organization to give them decades more of good times ahead.”
The Good Tidings Foundation volunteers broke ground at Tierra Caliente on Sept. 22. They plan to have the renovation complete by mid-October.
“Thank you Tierra Caliente for your commitment to respect, discipline and dance,” Mraz said before he threw the first sledge hammer into the wall. Jaimes and his daughter followed his groundbreaking actions with enthusiasm.
“I don’t know a lot about construction, but having grown up in these types of environments, I understand what the kids feel when they walk into this room,” Mraz said. “I understand the beauty, the discipline and also the chaos. How can we embrace the chaos, but also continue to help them organize and get the most out of this space.”
What’s even more beautiful about their generous gift is they are preserving the spirit of Tierra Caliente Academy of Arts. They will keep the beautiful murals painted on the walls inside. They will reconstruct the building to mimic the artwork with one of the murals’ painted white arches so that the studio will have the same white arches that extend outwards from the mural but inside the studio to dance and perform underneath.
“What we hope is that they recognize the place but that they are just blown away by it,” said Mraz. “Like they can’t believe it’s the same space … Not only that, but lean into it, how can we play into this and their colors, and their crest and their motto? How can we enhance what they do without changing it?”
Mraz said that is their challenge that he can’t wait to execute with their talented team of volunteers.
Jaimes said he is grateful for this renovation and all the time and effort to keep Tierra Caliente’s traditions last forever in the Vista community he cares deeply about.
“It’s definitely a roller coaster of emotions, from the good ones to the nostalgia, in a way, because when we opened the studio it was basically an empty space,” Jaimes said. “Basically, everything you see here, we did it ourselves. Between the members and the volunteers, we did it with our hands.”
He said his family built this academy as his way of paying it forward in their neighborhood and the impact they have made was unimaginable. He has watched students flourish here.
“It’s fantastic because over the years that has become a safe space, a cultural hub, making a difference to teenagers,” said Jaimes. “We have a high number of teenagers. Teenage years can be tough. They need to be connected to the studio … They are so attached to this space, so getting a new one, improved one, or upgraded, top of the line, it’s just super exciting.”
During construction, students — from toddlers to grandparents — will continue their classes and rehearsals at the Escondido Performing Arts Center.
“I was telling the teenagers and they were like, ‘How is it going to look? How did it come about?’ And I am like, ‘Have you seen those TV shows where there is this struggling family or struggling organization and they basically take you away and you come back and you have a brand new home? Same thing!’ You can just see the kids screaming and jumping.”
Jaimes knows what this renovation will mean for the future of Vista.
“The main thing is the emotional part, the bonding part of the arts, because that is what the arts are, it bonds people, it brings people together,” Jaimes said.
Hispanic Heritage Month, for their academy, is all year long.
“We represent the roots, the roots that make us, who we are, our music … I guess it’s in our blood, when it comes to the Latino Hispanic community, we listen to the music and something in us moves.”
The Good Tidings Foundation announced it will be including a few more upgrades than originally planned. They hope to open the new academy in record time, on Oct. 22 with student performances.
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