LegoLand California will leave no brick unturned in the national search for the next member of the Lego Master Model Builder team. In an eight-city tour that will span the country, LegoLand representatives will interview thousands of adults who desire to join the elite 6-member team that brainstorms, then builds, the models that make the Carlsbad family theme park one of the nation's most popular and unique vacation destinations. LegoLand California has partnered with The Art Institutes, America's leader in creative education, as the official host location in each city.
"We're looking for someone who is passionate about playing with Lego bricks," said Courtney Simmons, LegoLand spokesperson. "For anyone 18 or older who can take an idea and recreate it in a three-dimensional form out of rectangular bricks, we would love to talk with you!"
Prior to the start of the competition, candidates will have the opportunity to pre-register on line for an interview. "Participants will have 2,000 Lego bricks, and 45 minutes, to create a model. The specific theme of the project will not be announced until the clock starts, so contestants will truly have to exhibit creativity, strategy and calmness under pressure," said Patrick DeMaria, head of the building team and a Master Model Builder himself. "Each city's competition will have a different theme."
After kicking off at The Art Institute of California - San Diego on Thursday, Oct. 30, the official LegoLand Master Model Builder Search will head to Art Institutes in Washington D.C., Boston, Charlotte, Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Los Angeles before its final stop in Orange County, California. Winners from each city will be invited to travel to the LegoLand theme park in Carlsbad in February 2004 to interview for the ultimate job -- and the chance for the coveted spot as the seventh Lego Master Model Builder.
Currently six Master Model Builders work their magic at the park, maintaining more than 5,000 models composed of more than 30-million regulation Lego bricks, and constantly dreaming up new creations.
"We're all excited about what we've built here at the park," said DeMaria, "but we're more excited about what we haven't done yet. It's the thrill of dreaming something up and creating it that makes this the coolest job imaginable."
As a creative group, Master Model Builders have defied labels. They've studied architecture, sculpture, media design and art history; they've been postal workers, graphic artists and homemakers. They have been special effects technicians who built, then blew up, models for movies; they skydive, camp, play music and travel. They do have two things in common -- they've all been playing with Lego bricks since they were kids, and they're passionate about their work.