NEWS: Career histories of two more LAICCC
alumni can now be viewed on the Performing
Arts Legacy Project website - More Info
EVENTS: Hattie Winston, Emily Yancy star in
"Having Our Say" play reading Sat., April 13 at
The Kirk Douglas Theatre - More Info
These are exciting times for the Los Angeles Inner City Cultural Center.
We have launched our Cultural Legacy Project fundraising campaign, which will fund the design and construction of the new Los Angeles Inner City Cultural Center and C. Bernard Jackson Memorial Library.
We are developing a partnership with the Beloved Community Initiative at UCLA, from which ICCC’s roots sprouted in the mid-1960s. More details to follow shortly. For now, please mark your calendars for the next Beloved Community Initiative Awareness Week at UCLA from April 17-23, 2022.
And, if you ever needed an example of Inner City Cultural Center’s lasting influence on the arts in Los Angeles and beyond, consider the recent film “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” – based on the play by the late August Wilson, directed by George C. Wolfe, featuring Glynn Turman, and Denzel Washington was one of the producers. All four are ICCC alumni.
As the first-ever diverse, equitable and inclusive cultural arts organization in the nation, Los Angeles Inner City Cultural Center has a unique cultural legacy. To recognize and build on that legacy, voila! The Cultural Legacy Project.
Our Cultural Legacy Project fundraising co-chairs Ernie Hudson, Cecilia Peck, George Takei and Glynn Turman, along with our Board of Directors, invite you to join us in our mission to re-establish ICCC’s rightful place in the cultural history and future of Los Angeles.
We kicked off this fundraising campaign in November at our C. Bernard Jackson Virtual Birthday celebration, with a goal of securing 1,000 donors to commit from $100-$1,000 or more.
Cultural Legacy Project donors of $100 and up will receive a copy of “Out of the Ashes”, a photographic production history of the Inner City Cultural Center from 1967-1992, and their names will also be inscribed on a commemorative bronze plaque at the new C. Bernard Jackson Memorial Library.
We welcome donations in any amount, and all donations are tax-deductible.
During the first phase of the Cultural Legacy Project, your donation will help us secure temporary space to house, catalogue, inventory and digitize 55 years of archives that include the works of C. Bernard Jackson, other Inner City alumni, and the collected works of Los Angeles-based artists, organizations and cultural workers.
In addition to making financial contributions, many Inner City alumni are donating significant pieces of memorabilia to the archives.
The new Inner City Cultural Center / C. Bernard Jackson Memorial Library will be the first institution ever built to house this unique multicultural arts treasure trove reflecting the role ICCC and its alumni have played in shaping the cultural history of Los Angeles.
Your donation will help us expand on the vision of co-founders C. Bernard Jackson and J. Alfred Cannon, our original Board of Trustees, and supporters including Gregory Peck, Marlo Thomas, Robert Wise, George Savage, Budd Schulberg, Robert Kennedy, Sidney Poitier, Eddie & Margo Albert, Beah Richards, Mako, George Takei and many others.
Inner City Cultural Center was a place where many artists were introduced to Los Angeles and the West Coast, learned their craft, began or reignited their careers. For a more comprehensive list, see the “Prominent Alumni & Associates” page under the Cultural Legacy tab of this website.
Numerous ICCC alumni have gone on to stellar careers in film, television, theater and other arts and have their own stories to tell.
With your support, we’ll be able to ensure that over the next 55 years and beyond, other young people will consider Los Angeles Inner City Cultural Center and the C. Bernard Jackson Memorial Library their arts and cultural home – a home to which they too can invite their friends and relations to hear and see the stories they will tell and the stories you can share with them.
On this website, you’ll find more information about our three 50th anniversary celebrations from 2015-17, our annual presentations since then, the formation of our Cultural Legacy Project Team, and our enhanced relationship with UCLA and the Beloved Community Initiative.
Our 50th anniversary video is on YouTube at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3QOCoedg1o&t=89s
You can donate in support of the Cultural Legacy Project by
• Clicking the “Donate” button on our website.
• Using your own Paypal account, you can email the donation to innercityculturalcenter@gmail.com.
• Or you can email us at innercityculturalcenter@gmail.com or telephone 213-234-1717 and we will process your donation.
We look forward to your prompt response, and thank you in advance for your support of Inner City Cultural Center!
Ernest Dillihay
LAICCC Board Member
Executive Director, The Cultural Legacy Project