In 2007 the Los Angeles Philharmonic established the Youth Orchestra Los Angeles (YOLA) with an aim to provide free, high-quality music training and academic support to youth throughout Los Angeles. YOLA has become one of the most influential community-based music education programs in the United States while serving over 1,200 students in the last year.
As LA Phil’s Centennial year approaches, it aims to double the number of students that YOLA serves by establishing a permanent home base for the program. Today, LA Phil unveiled the architectural designs by Gehry Partners LLC, for the new Judith and Thomas L. Beckman YOLA Center @ Inglewood. The 25,000 square-foot, $14.5 million construction project will repurpose and transform the former branch office of Security Pacific Bank.
Frank Gehry, the world-renowned architect and designer of the Walt Disney Concert hall, has developed the the design for the center in close collaboration with Gustavo Dudamel the Venezuelan conductor of the LA Phil, creating a light-filled instrument to house YOLA and all of its needs.
Gustavo Dudamel said, “As a young child in Venezuela, I joined El Sistema and learned firsthand that music has the power to change people’s lives. Now the LA Phil is doing just that through YOLA. We know that our engagement with young people in our classes in the Rampart District or East L.A. is every bit as important as our involvement with the audiences in Walt Disney Concert Hall. In fact, one side of what we do is incomplete without the other. That’s why it’s so important to build this permanent home for YOLA, and why I’m so grateful to Frank Gehry for understanding the LA Phil’s hopes and the dreams of our students.”
The Judith and Thomas L. Beckmen YOLA Center@Inglewood will not only expand upon the core beliefs of LA Phil and YOLA but root them permanently in order to reach a broader community in house.The LA Phil expects to begin construction in spring 2019.
* * *
.jpg)
