Church of Scientology Sponsors Bench Art

February 14, 2003 – San Diego, CA: San Diego’s Benchmark Project aims to enhance the artistic and cultural identity that has proven to be a vitally important part of the city’s community experience.

In January 2003, San Diego hosted the 37th Annual Superbowl, which attracted thousands of visitors across the nation to the city. For the entire month of January the city was filled with custom art benches created by professional artists, designers, sculptors, architects and woodcraftsmen. Local Artists For A Better World and Scientology artists, Cathy Mullins and Lynette Joy Hall, joined forces to create a bench, sponsored by the Church Of Scientology San Diego.

Inspired by L. Ron Hubbard’s words, “The greatest joy there is in life is creating. Splurge on it!”, Cathy and Lynette had 3 weeks to create the bench. The bench was placed in the Martin Luther King Linear Park in downtown San Diego, a highly visible location across from the San Diego convention center and in a park that hosted numerous Multicultural festivals and activities during the month.

Cathy Mullins, one of the artists said, “It’s really incredible how positively this bench has been received. Everyone who sees it immediately smiles and gets right into the Joy of Creating, and they go away happier.” The Joy of Creating bench is currently at the Church of Scientology San Diego bookstore for viewing and will be donated to the San Diego Children’s Museum, its new home when the museum re-opens in January 2005.

The Benchmark Project proceeds go to the LINK Program, AIGA Design Center and San Diego City College Performing Arts and Graphic Design and San Diego City College Foundation’s Graphic Design scholarship fund. Each of these organizations play a vital role in our community. They provide art education to at risk teens, childrens’ art workshops, and college scholarships to students studying the arts. The programs also promote and showcase the importance of design in our everyday lives.

Grateful acknowledgment is made to L.Ron Hubbard Library for permission to reproduce a selection from the copyrighted works of L.Ron Hubbard.