Pasadena Showcase House of the Arts Calls On Volunteers to Help Produce Annual Fundraiser

The Pasadena Showcase House of the Arts is calling on volunteers to sign up and help organize the 2022 Pasadena Showcase House of Design, one of the nation’s oldest and largest home and garden tours.

For four weeks each spring, the Pasadena Showcase House of the Arts, a nonprofit organization, chooses a particularly attractive estate in Pasadena as the Showcase House for the year, and volunteers work to renovate it, each room and garden being done by a different design firm, until the home becomes a “monumental” garden and home which the public can visit while contributing to the fundraising campaign.

Volunteers also add a pop-up restaurant and shopping to enhance visitors’ experience. Throughout the tour, volunteers, supported by about 200 associate members, work long hours to guide visitors and help with all needed production jobs to maintain the Pasadena event’s standing as one of the most successful house and garden tours throughout the U.S.

Garrett Collins, public relations and marketing chair at the Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts, explains the variety of skills that volunteers carry with them when they join the annual production work.

“Between our music programs and the Pasadena Showcase House of Design, our volunteer members flex skills in every aspect of event production and fundraising,” Collins said. “A few examples include working with local and national media outlets on PR and marketing for the Showcase House, special event planning for dinners and galas, coordinating interior designers and contractor schedules, developing grant applications and interviewing local nonprofits, restaurant and hospitality management.”

This year’s Pasadena Showcase House of Design couldn’t take place because of the pandemic, but the organization was able to host “June Bloom,” an outdoor garden party with over 2,000 attendees that raised more than $250,000 in one day.

Volunteers will also administer a robust Gifts and Grants program and organize and staff three annual music programs: Music Mobile, which introduces orchestral instruments to third-grade students throughout the San Gabriel Valley; Instrumental Competition, which provides monetary prizes for exceptionally talented young musicians; and Youth Concert, which brings thousands of local fourth grade students to Walt Disney Concert Hall each year.

“We are actively planning for our spring music programs and fundraisers and excited to welcome new members to engage in our volunteer work,” Collins continued.

The deadline to join Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts is Dec. 31, he said.

“If you want to revel in the enchantment of music and design, engage with a fun group of individuals, and become a valued member of our community, then Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts is the organization that fits,” said Dotty Ewing, Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts membership chair. “Membership in the Pasadena Showcase is a worthwhile and gratifying experience; utilize your talents or learn new skills while enjoying the camaraderie of friendship.”

Last year’s Showcase House, featured in the virtual production, was the Locke House, a 1937 Federal-country estate designed by the acclaimed Gerard R. Colcord, who was known as “Hollywood society’s architect.” The house is nestled among mature oaks and sits on two park-like acres in the historic Santa Anita Oaks neighborhood of Arcadia. It was built for Edmund Locke, Jr., who shared the house with his wife, Elizabeth, and their three young children.

The approximately 6,700 square-foot, two-story home cost $30,000 to build, a tremendous sum for a new house during the Great Depression. It appeared in the 1998 Academy Award winning film, “Gods and Monsters,” and also featured prominently in Architectural Digest in 1939.

For more about the 2020 Pasadena Showcase House of Design, visit www.pasadenanow.com/weekendr/getting-virtual-with-the-showcase-house.

Planning is now underway for the 2022 Showcase House and an announcement will be made later this fall.

For more information on how to become a member, visit www.pasadenashowcase.org/membership