“Where words fail, music speaks” – Hans Christian Anderson
Music has played a definitive and restorative role throughout my life and career. I am thrilled, honored and humbled to serve as Executive Director of Neighborhood Music School and to be part of this artistic anchor and home in the Boyle Heights community. As a child, music- and the process of building music- was integral to my discovery, play, problem solving and comprehension. As a teenager, music took on another role as a mentor, a destination, a community, and a directional guide through endless challenges and opportunities. As a teaching and performing artist, music became an incredible tool for storytelling and identity. As I continue to grow, so do the awareness and appreciation of the massive power that the arts- and music in particular- have on all of us, all of the time.
With an undergraduate degree in Theatre from the College of Wooster, a M.A. in Interdisciplinary Arts from Columbia College, Chicago, and a M.A. in Nonprofit Management from Antioch University, Los Angeles, I have worked as an actor (who sang often, if not well), arts administrator and teaching artist, teaching and performing on stages and in classrooms in New York City, Memphis, Chicago and many other places along the way. Since establishing my home in Los Angeles, I have built a path that includes arts administration, development and advocacy through my work as Executive Director of the LACHSA Foundation, raising funds for the arts programs at Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, as Deputy Director of Arts for LA. I currently serve of the Board of the Boyle Heights Chamber of Commerce and LA Dance Chronicle. I recognize that the nexus of creative development fuels all other development: personal, communal, societal, universal. To do this well, and fully, relies on the level to which we honor our voices, experiences and our humanity while exploring and trusting the craft and the discipline with which we build our relationships. Neighborhood Music School is built upon the practice of honoring voices, artistry and development from teaching artist to student, community engagement, and as the anchor of being an artistic home to so many generations before, and so many generations ahead.
I am thrilled to lead this talented team as we fulfill the mission of Neighborhood Music School and continue to fill this home with stories, growth, creativity and music.
“Music is the best.”- Frank Zappa
karen@neighborhoodmusic.org