The Chicago West Community Music Center celebrated its 25th anniversary on Juneteenth with an anniversary gala at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago.
The center’s mission is to transform young lives while strengthening communities on the West and South sides of Chicago. It began in 1999 as a response to the elimination of arts programs from Chicago Public Schools due to budget cuts that had begun in the late ‘70s.
While schools in more affluent communities were able to keep programs afloat, low-income communities saw programs completely disappear.
“Years later, many of those schools were still void of any serious music programs,” said Howard Sandifer, executive director of the Center. “By that time, we decided that we wanted to do something to help fill that void.”
The event, themed “Celebrating 25 Years Uplifting Lives Through Music,” will feature an original dance suite written by Sandifer, choreography by Joel Hall, and a musical performance by the center’s students.
The landing on the anniversary of Juneteenth is no coincidence, Sandifer said.
“We wanted to commemorate that day as well,” Sandifer said. “The mission statement is about uplifting the community through music and we celebrate the freedom of our community to be able to be free, to learn music, and to enjoy the freedom of music.”
First called Lawndale Community Music Center, Sandifer, along with his wife, Darlene Sandifer, now managing director for CWCMC, began the program out of their kitchen table to help serve “any place that wanted to have high-quality music programming,” said Sandifer.
The first program offered was an intergenerational guitar program for six students and their parents on the West Side of Chicago.
“They were very grateful for the opportunity to learn a musical instrument and learn about music,” Sandifer said. “The involvement with the parents and the grandparents was so important. It was an ideal situation. Parents are learning along with the students. It was bonding.”
The program expanded, and the center now has programs that include Westside Instructional String and Harp, which brings string training to elementary school children, and The Business of Music program, which is an after-school program for high school students to learn about the music industry. It also offers the Berklee Music Initiative, based on a partnership with Berklee City Music and Berklee’s College of Music out of Boston.
This year, CWCMC also brought its World Music Program to D97 schools through performances held during the school day.
Eboney Lofton, chief learning and innovation officer at D97, said the program encompasses who D97 is around supporting diversity and equity.
Students were introduced to music from James Reese Europe, a Black American ragtime and jazz composer, as well as music from Asia, Latin America and Europe.
Programming for D97 was free through a grant secured by CWCMC, Lofton said.
Lofton said students also learned about the History of the Blues, where students seemed very engaged with the teaching musicians.
CWCMC will also be bringing a laptop music program to both Brooks Middle School and Julian Middle School this summer, Lofton said.
“It looked really engaging and I am excited to learn about it myself,” Lofton said. “I think because we want to always promote music and also ourselves always use technology it sounds like a perfect fit.”
CWCMC was planning a free concert at Scoville Park early in June to showcase the music curriculum and “A Day of World Music” but it was rained out. A new date has not yet been announced.
“There is a desire for really high-quality education, particularly music education,” Sandifer said. “It is a lot of fun for all ages and an opportunity for people to express themselves, but also, [it’s] an opportunity to bring people together from different backgrounds: economic backgrounds, racial backgrounds. It is an opportunity for people to learn and grow at the same time.”
CWCMC now serves North Lawndale, South Lawndale, Garfield Park, Humboldt Park, Oak Park, and also has students coming from as far as Arlington Heights.
Tickets for the 25th Anniversary celebration, also honoring Helen Zell, a philanthropist and civic leader, can be purchased at CWCMC’s website at www.cwcmc.org.