Submitted by: Earl Power Murphy
My name is Earl Power Murphy, I am a twenty-six year old Moss-Bradley resident. I’ve been a Peorian for almost twenty years and I greatly enjoy it here. So much so I was able to convince a young Parisian artist that living in Peoria is better than Paris. She moved here and we married. Together we are doers; she is an artist with work around the world I am a teacher at Woodruff Career and Technical Center with a Masters coming in May and sights set on a PhD. Here in this neighborhood we discovered a way to share our abilities and passions with the community.
We live on High Street, and every day, like countless others, we drive by the Hale Memorial church. This is a special place. One day, almost three years ago, we bought the church. Since that day we’ve been building an organization, one that is capable of restoring the church and bringing new life to the space and the community.
The organization is titled Yaku. Yaku means water. Yaku formed for two purposes: one, to organize, fund, and guide the restoration of the Hale Memorial Church, and two, to facilitate the reintroduction of life into the building. Since the beginning, we have been sharing the story of Yaku, the church, and Peoria to artists and creative minded people around the world. We introduce them to the possibility of sharing their work in the church, participating in a growing community, and learning from a strong Midwestern culture. With these stories and introductions, over forty artists from around the world, hailing from countries such as France, Peru, England, Japan, Korea, and New Zealand, have committed to Yaku. They want to share their work with Peoria and they want to learn how we live.
Some have already visited as tourists, and are excited to return as participants, while many others patiently wait their turn. With this international community of artists we will curate and host grand artistic festivals within the church, those that create a welcoming experience to all members of the Peoria community. In between festivals, the church will be offered to the community as a facility for a broad spectrum of community events, for example: neighborhood meetings, small conventions, theater and dance companies, lectures, wedding, graduation parties, and musical performances, just to name a few.
Yaku is organized by two distinct entities, the Advisory Board and the Makers. The Advisory Board is made of distinguished members of the Peoria community. The members represent various communities in the area, such as the Historical Society, MBRA, and the business community. Their role is to guide us along ensuring that our work effectively realizes our mission and positively benefits a broad spectrum of local constituents. The Makers, as their titles implies, are for bringing to life the work of Yaku. That means, organizing the events, caring for logistics, and connecting with the community; they are the ground floor, the grassroots of Yaku.
Recently our efforts have taken a new form. We are going public. Our thoughts, theories, and plans are finally ready to share. We have small publications distributed at businesses around Peoria, a website that is coming to life, active on social media, introductory events planned, and the first steps of restoration beginning in May. In April, we released a five-volume set of “Story Cards”, they share small bites of our story, at local businesses such as Broken Tree, Thirty-Thirty, and Panaderia Ortiz. Our website, yakupeoria.org, is live and growing every day.
We have two public events planned in May, all events will be held at The Larkin, located at 600 W. Main St., the former Church Mouse:
Introduction and Q&A – Saturday, May 10th
Introduction to the Founders, our mission, and members of the Makers
Arts and Artists – Saturday, May 24th
Introduction to a selection of artists, their works, and glimpse of how we envision the festivals.
Last, but certainly not least, the restoration project Floors and Doors; this project is our first push to bring the building back to life. It was born from the necessity to meet basic needs of the structure as well as the personal desire to introduce the building and share its potential. The scope and goals of the project are simple: prepare safe, secure, and accessible entrances; repair the areas of the floor weakened or destroyed by the elements; remove the excess debris from the building; and seal the envelope, i.e. patching roof leaks, closing holes in gutters, and protecting the stained glass windows.
The Floors and Doors project will be funded by an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign running May 1st – May 29th. The restoration work is to being in early June, contractors and volunteers are ready to go.
