After school and tuition free
The Watts-Willowbrook Music Academy is looking to recruit Black and Brown students for the opportunity of a lifetime that will assist in providing musical structure, advancement, and a fun after-school opportunity.
The Watts-Willowbrook Music Academy is an after-school program that has been in South Los Angeles for a total of twelve years. The Music Academy has provided tuition-free music lessons for students between the ages of 7-18. The organization has five sites including the Siemon Community Center, Alma Reeves Woods-Watts Library, the Children’s Institute, Macedonia Baptist Church and Grant AME Church.
The Siemon Community Center is located at 7651 S. Central Ave. and teaches beginning violin. The Grant AME Church is located at 10435 S. Central Ave and teaches beginning violin and viola. The remaining three locations, all in South LA, teach a combination of beginning cello, beginning and continuing violin and beginning viola.
In addition to free tuition, the Watts-Willowbrook Music Academy provides violins for a discounted price. They also provide cello, violin, all concert string-based instruments, and viola lessons. The music academy has a children’s orchestra which holds three recitals throughout the year The Watts-Willowbrook was developed by Billy Mitchell, Dr. Charles Dickerson, and Les Jones.
Billy Mitchell, co-founder of the academy, said “It's a good opportunity to learn how to play any kind of music, if you learn the basics of music, reading notes and beats…it makes it much easier to learn to create the kind of music you’d like to.”
The academy was inspired by “El Sistema”, which is a world-renowned music outreach and education program in Venezuela. All instructors are experts and passionate about recruitment.
For more information, visit www.sappa.net or call (626) 793-8706.
