$25 million from the state budget will be going towards the renovation of the César Chávez Community Center in Riverside, which is nearly 100 years old and owned by the city. "This building is a beautiful architectural masterpiece, but it's old, and there's been very little renovation," said Riverside Arts Academy (RAA) president Collette Lee.
The RAA offers over ten free classes and programs at the community center, including a youth orchestra, a Saturday choir program, and a children's mariachi group. "So our program is about changing lives, but we use music as that instrument of change," Lee said.
Lee says there are no set renovation plans for the community center, but that they have some key things that they'd like to improve."We're looking at the auditorium, we're looking at renovating the dressing rooms, the lighting system, putting a soundboard in," Lee said. "We'd like to have practice rooms, piano labs, those types of things that really make a difference."
The $25 million in renovations funds were advocated for by Riverside Assemblymember Jose Media, who also helped obtain an additional $220 million for four other projects within his district.