Community Vocal Workshop
Jimetta Rose has long been embedded in the Los Angeles arts/music scene, as well as a persistent voice and figure speaking out for social change and equality for black people and women. In partnership, Jimetta Rose seeks to co-sponsor with local communities around the world for the curated programming of an 8-12 Week Community Vocal Workshop.
Let’s Partner
If you are a community or public service organization interested in learning more about how to partner with Jimetta Rose & Jack Maeby to create and deliver a customized Community Choir Program…
Objectives
Fostering Mindfulness, Manifestation and Life Skills
Intentional living infused into art, culture and everyday life.
Injecting Non-dogmatic Spirituality into Public Spaces
Finding the intention or higher purpose in everything you do.
Discipline in devotion
Everything is a personalized prayer, i.e. Dancing, Singing, Driving, Exercise.. Working out your body, moving the energy through.
Community development
Community Programming centered around themes of:
Afrocentricity
Philosophy and Intentional Living
Mindfulness in Art
Intentional Creation of Art
Activism through Art
The purpose of this program includes:
Jimetta Rose In 2019, vocalist and choir director Jimetta Rose Smith founded a community choir called the Voices of Creation, in collaboration with musical director Jack Maeby. The choir was formed to bring healing music to LA communities most in need, and to promote inclusiveness and diversity through the art form of Black music. The Voices of Creation made their debut performance at the Broad Museum as part of its Black Fire series celebrating Black art and artists. They have performed for the Community Coalition in South LA in support of power building with Black, Brown and Indigenous people, at MLK Day events in Leimert Park and Inglewood, at Juneteenth in Leimert Park, for Grand Performances at Heritage Square and at LA’s Grand Park New Year’s Eve celebration with the Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra.
Jack Maeby was the founder and musical director of We All Sing Hallelujah! in which high school and senior citizen choirs learned and performed a jazz/gospel version of Handel’s “The Messiah” at several senior centers, at Friendship Auditorium in Griffith Park and at Torres High School in 2016 and 2017. He was a founding board member of the nonprofit, Giving Music.
Leadership & Vision
The Community Choir Program is a collaboration.
Singing to heal ourselves and others. We sing to heal the wounds caused by injustice and division. By healing ourselves, we become better able to minister to others and to the community at large. The fracturing and marginalization of the South LA community has only been intensified by the ongoing pandemic. COVID has demanded distance and fear in a world already divided by intolerance and fear of the other. When naturally humans need each other and societies are built on principles of unity and not division. So, to see our society continue, we must begin to intentionally infuse Love, Togetherness, Mindfulness and Discipline in Devotion. Music is a universal language, what better tool to use as a unifier of people, communities, and nations.
A Community Choir program was piloted with active participants in our project: VoC Kwanzaa Caroler Program (Solefolks LA, Fall/Winter 2021). The Carolers learn to perform healing music, music that speaks to positivity, self-reliance, unity and creativity, they become better able to overcome some of their own personal obstacles. Making music in a collective environment brings about a sense of accomplishment and a heightened awareness of the power of collaboration and cooperation. The residency will culminate in a free public performance in the Leimert Park/Crenshaw neighborhood, in which the Kwanzaa Carolers will embody the cultural principles of Kwanzaa and increase awareness of its universal significance.
Benefits
The benefits of the Community Choir Program begin with its mission:
Our communities are filled with people who have always wanted to sing, but have been too shy or insecure about their vocal abilities. Our workshops provide a safe space for novice singers of all ages and experience. Singing in a group setting allows participants to find their voices and to grow artistically at their own pace. Jimetta Rose is skilled at helping inexperienced singers discover their abilities in ways that allow our participants to move beyond their insecurities and to experience the healing power of collaborative music.
Hearing and contributing to the beauty and power of choral singing is what keeps participants engaged and ensures their continued participation. By incorporating the guiding principles of Kwanzaa into our workshops, we are able to tap into the culture of our communities and to give our participants a way to offer meaningful artistic expression in the culminating performance while also expanding their cultural landscape.
Engagement & Artistic Expression
The Community Choir Program cultivates a safe space for discovery and creativity.