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World Stage celebrates 25 years

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The World Stage Performance Gallery will hold its 25th anniversary concert on Aug. 24 at the Ford Amphitheatre at 6 p.m. The concert is taking place despite the uncertain future the performance venue faces.

Located in the heart of Leimert Park, the performance space has been caught up in the social upheaval that has recently engulfed the village—caused in part by the advent of subway construction, the ongoing recession, as well as changing ownership of some businesses in the area.

The World Stage Performance Gallery was founded in 1989 by legendary Jazz artist Billy Higgins along with poet and community activist Kamau Daaood to fill a cultural void in the Los Angeles community. The gallery offers weekly educational classes in Jazz, poetry, drumming and other art forms.

This year’s anniversary concert is part of Leimert Park’s renaissance in the face of the challenges and opportunities presented by the construction of the Crenshaw subway line, according to its organizers.

Other challenges that The World Stage is facing include generating enough funds to pay the staff and workshop coordinators; continuing to present it’s calendar of events; and making sure that the monthly expenses at the venue are being paid.

Besides simply existing, the arts organization also wants to grow by beginning to build youth-oriented offerings and potentially starting a youth college for children between the ages of 4 to 15.

“If children can start at a young age, they’ll get to learn how to play the saxophone, piano and other instruments, before they begin public school,” said Dwight Trible, executive director of the space.

For the past 25 years, The World Stage has kept its doors open with the help of the community. It is largely funded by community contributions (some as low as $5) and from grants given by the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs and the Los Angeles County Arts Commission.

Despite the ups and downs that typically plague comunity-based arts groups, the World Stage has managed to pay its rent on time, yet for its entire 25-year history, the organization has never been granted a lease, nor have they met the new owners of their building.

“We don’t feel pressured at this point; we just don’t know who they are, and why they haven’t made themselves known to us. We are feeling a bit apprehensive,” said Trible.

Despite all that, Trible says, the 25th anniversary celebration is solely intended to honor its founder—L.A. native, Billy Higgins, now deceased, who was the most recorded drummer in Jazz history.

Former radio DJ, and Jazz icon, LeRoy Downs, will host the show. Trible, also a Jazz vocalist, will headline the all-star concert and other performaners will include notables such as Daaood, Bennie Maupin, Hubert Laws, Patrice Rushen, Carmen Lundy, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Jaha Zainabu, and the S.H.I.N.E. Mawusi Women’s African Drum Circle. John Beasley who will lead a house band that includes Trevor Ware, Clayton Cameron, Munyungo Jackson and Jacques Lesure. Former students will perform as well.

The World Stage wants to raise $25,000 from this benefit summer concert, to ensure its growth and longevity.

“This is The World Stage’s only major fund-raising event of the year, which is why we really need the community to step up and make this a huge success,” said Trible. “If so, the doors will stay open and work will continue. We need to have standing-room only, to introduce more of the L.A. arts-loving community to The World Stage and the work that we do.”

Trible adds that achieving this goal will enable the organization to futher its overall mission to continue to “provide leadership to secure, preserve and advance the position of African American music, literature, and works in the oral tradition to a local, national and international audience by providing workshops where classic and emerging forms of creative expression can be supported and presented.”

Tickets for the 25th anniversary concert can be purchased online at: www.fordtheatres.org. Tickets prices vary from $30 to $60 for front-tier seats; children and student tickets are $15. For more information, check www.theworldstage.org.

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