Hannah Croft
[follow id = “hannahcat7”]
Lady Gaga is currently in Cambria.
That’s right — the Grammy award winning artist is working on a “creative project” at Hearst Castle this week, thanks to a “friend of a friend” who sits on the board of the Hearst Castle Preservation Foundation.
That friend is Remar Sutton, and he called Gaga’s project at the castle the most exciting thing the venue has seen yet, as well as a great opportunity to get a younger generation excited about Hearst Castle.
“Just today, she’s had 65,000 tweets talking about the castle,” Sutton said. “And all of those tweets are from people ages 18-21.”
Gaga’s primary audience is young enough to have never heard of Hearst Castle, Sutton said, and her visit is already bringing extra attention from around the world.
In addition to attention, Gaga is also bringing a $250,000 donation to the Hearst Castle Preservation Foundation, and will be filming a PSA about California’s drought.
“Her visit was kind of funky timing with the whole water crisis,” Sutton said. “She didn’t know a ton about it, but now she’s really helping us get the word out.”
Gaga will give an additional $25,000 grant to research the potential re-opening of two wells in Cambria, Sutton said. Gaga’s visit is aiding the castle in a variety of ways, he said.
During her visit, the castle won’t see many changes — just the addition of Lady Gaga and a 175-person crew, who may be visible during tours. They have refilled the Neptune Pool to use it on-screen, but the goal to use the water for irrigation still exists. Additionally, a portion of Gaga’s large donation will go toward repairing leaks in the pool.
Another large portion of the grant will go toward restoring and maintaining Hearst Castle’s roughly 25,000 pieces of art.
“Gaga really loves art, and she values Hearst Castle from a beauty point of view, an art point of view and a history point of view,” Sutton said. “She thinks her audience can, too.”
As for the video, Gaga’s the only one who knows much about it. But, Sutton said, this will be her biggest production yet.
“This will be the biggest thing the castle has ever seen,” he said. “And when this video debuts in the fall, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the biggest thing she’s done.”