Today we’d like to introduce you to Charles Dickerson.
Hi Charles, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
At the beginning of the summer of 2009, nine African-American high-school-aged musicians asked me to work with them on orchestral repertoire. I agreed, and by the end of the summer, we had grown to 24, and we presented a concert that was attended by about 150 folks from our community. Encouraged by the success of this performance, the youngsters asked that we continue. And so we did, but only as an informal community group.
But in 2011, we were invited to travel to Washington DC to participate in the unveiling ceremonies for the Memorial to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the National Mall. This prompted us to formalize our group (into a California non-profit corporation), and obtain the necessary qualifications to raise funds so we could take the trip. When we returned from Washington, we created a season of free concerts for our community that concluded with a standing-room-only performance at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in July 2012.
Since then, we have grown to become the largest primarily African-American orchestra in the United States with about 125 members in our ensemble every year. We continue to offer a season of free concerts to our community, and this July we will present our 10th Season Finale Concert at Disney Hall.
In addition, we now serve as the official orchestra for California State University Dominguez Hills. We also offer music education classes for elementary-, middle school-, and high-school youngsters at Boys and Girls Clubs locations around Los Angeles, music instruction programs in collaboration with the County of Los Angeles Probation Department, and a music and literacy enrichment program in LAUSD schools that we operate in collaboration with the Colburn School. We are also the lead partner in the Los Angeles Orchestra Fellowship – a program to assist young emerging professional musicians from historically underrepresented communities to prepare for careers in American Orchestras. We have just begun the ICYOLA Drum Corps, a program led by master drummer Ron Tyson and that is generously sponsored by The Guitar Center Foundation.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Fortunately, our road has been remarkably smooth, most likely because we offer opportunities for young people to learn and perform high qualify music in the very community where they live. Like many non-profits, we have experienced some struggles relating to our budget.
But recently, we have been the beneficiaries of great generosity from our community, including a major grant from the State of California received pursuant to the goodwill of State Senator Steven Bradford, and these gestures of support will sustain us into the future.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I have had the great honor of pursuing two paths in my career. I practiced law for about 30 years in Los Angeles, having served as the first African-American City Attorney of Inglewood. But concurrently, I have served as a choral and orchestral conductor for almost 50 years. I began conducting choirs in Washington DC during the 1970s while I was a student at Howard University. I served as Director of Music at Holman United Methodist Church for 10 years (from 1996-2005), and I am currently in my 18th year of service as Director of Music at Rolling Hills United Methodist Church. In 2004, I became the conductor of the Southeast Symphony, and I held that position until 2011.
But I am most proud of the work that I am privileged to do with the young people of our community. I am likely best known as the conductor of our community’s most prominent orchestra – the Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles (ICYOLA), We are distinguished from other youth orchestras around the country because we serve the African-American community (almost every other youth orchestra in the United States is located in areas where African-Americans don’t live and that are not easily accessible to African-Americans), our program is offered to our members without charge, and we teach values of music that are transferable to other vital aspects of a successful life – the discipline of practice, understanding when to lead and when to follow, learning to work in collaboration with and support of others, and the value of the pursuit of excellence.
So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
We are always looking for youngsters to join our program. And so we ask our community members to encourage youngsters who play orchestral instruments to join us.
In addition, we believe that our youngsters are encouraged when they have the privilege of performing before our community. So we ask our community to attend our concerts.
And of course, we are always thankful for the financial support that helps us to underwrite our work for the youngsters in our community.
We encourage folks to learn more about us by visiting our website at www.icyola.org and reaching out to us at [email protected] at 213-788-4260.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.icyola.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/icyola_/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/icyola
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/icyola_official
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu_NWnEGqCTZsmAJEqh6Qxg
Image Credits
Gregory L. Moore
