The Judith and Thomas L. Beckmen YOLA Center in Inglewood is now open. The center offers free after-school music programming for students in the neighborhood. It’s also the first permanent home for the music program known as the Youth Orchestra Los Angeles or YOLA.
The Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Music and Artistic Director, Gustavo Dudamel, created YOLA 14 years ago. It currently serves more than 1,300 youth musicians. Shortly before the grand opening of the YOLA Center, the legendary conductor shared his hopes and dreams for the state-of-the-art music facility with “Inside the Issues” host Alex Cohen.
“This is a revindication of what it is...you know...to be included,” Dudamel said.
The center hopes to set a precedent for other orchestras and cultural institutions to give back to their communities, especially ethnically diverse and overlooked ones.
“That is what this center, this YOLA Center, means,” Dudamel said.
The center’s engagement with its community won’t just stop at music. The long-term vision for the space is to act as a cultural resource for Inglewood and the focal point for the LA Phil’s community engagement. What that entails is yet to be known.
The 25,000-square-foot facility was designed by renowned architect Frank Gehry, who also designed the Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles. The $14.5 million building was made possible through a gift from Judith and Thomas L. Beckmen, whom the center is named after. Thomas Beckmen is a board member for the LA Phil, and Judy Beckman is a longtime supporter.
“This will be completely new,“ Dudamel said.
The music and artistic director has already led his first rehearsal at the center.
“For these young people...they will go to a new place...a new place that is full of beauty and full of possibilities,” he said.
Dudamel knows the feeling because he’s recently experienced something similar, the reopening of the Hollywood Bowl.
The bowl was shut down in March of 2020 for the first time in 98 years because of the pandemic. It reopened in May.
“It was a resurrection,” Dudamel recalled.
Although the venue was shut down to visitors, the LA Phil was able to perform via Sound/Stage, a free online concert series.
Still, for Dudamel, things weren’t the same. But, the new year brought new life to the Hollywood Bowl.
“When we came back with the audience, with the orchestra, without any distance...It was, I will say...it’s a new time,” he said.
A new time Dudamel said has been for the better.
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