SCHOOL OF ARTS AND CULTURE AT MHP

Vision: Guided by an eighteen-month community planning process designed to re-imagine Mexican Heritage Plaza’s future, a new vision for a School of Arts and Culture at MHP was created, embraced by the community and adopted by the City of San Jose in Spring 2011. Our vision is to create a vibrant place of learning, culture and community that nurtures the soul and brings joy, skill building and a sense of belonging to children, families and all who participate. Beliefs: Creativity and innovation are the lifeblood of our economy. Arts and creative experiences help children develop critical thinking, communication and collaborative skills Arts and creative experiences enhance children’s self esteem, cross cultural understanding, empathy and connection to their community and each other. Our children have inequitable access to arts and creative experiences and no child should be turned away for lack of resources.

Goals:

To narrow the opportunity gap in arts education and learning, nurture the joy, creativity and well being of our children and unleash the talent of our next generation of students, leaders, artists and consumers of culture.

Strategy:

We are leveraging a $32M cultural facility by providing unique and culturally relevant educational offerings of value to the children and families while creating a "community container" for arts programming with a network of multicultural arts partners.

Our sustainable business model is based on containing fixed costs and funding 1) community access and engagement through gross profit from market based rentals such as weddings and quinceañeras; 2) class offerings through tuition and donor supported scholarships; and 3) facility related expenses through City of San Jose operational support.