Catalog ID:
OH-0084
Archives Field 21:
Scope & Content:
Musician Cyril Lamont Williams discusses his participation in the Bridgeport Cultural Arts Center, a community learning center dedicated to offering children and adults instruction in a variety of artistic media such as painting and drawing, photography, music, dance, sculpture, writing and much more. A.B.C.D (Action for Bridgeport Community Development) spearheaded the formation of the Center and procured funding for its programs.
Williams considers the significance of the Arts Center, located at the Gary Crooks Community Center, to the residents of the P,T, Barnum public housing complex and the positive influence it exerted on people's lives and the neighborhood in general. He describes his extensive musical activities at the Center where he learned to play a variety of drums, the saxophone, piano, and more and his exposure to Latin culture and artistic traditions outside his own African American experiences. He cites his instruction at the Arts Center, his experience performing, and his competition with other students there as the main reason he was well prepared to play in his high school band. He reflects on the relationship between poverty and identity, particularly for his neighbors how the Arts Center helped him forge a path in life to become the person he is today.
The Arts Center served as an important vehicle for self- expression and learning in the Bridgeport community and mirrored trends in the Black Arts movement taking place on a national level.
Williams considers the significance of the Arts Center, located at the Gary Crooks Community Center, to the residents of the P,T, Barnum public housing complex and the positive influence it exerted on people's lives and the neighborhood in general. He describes his extensive musical activities at the Center where he learned to play a variety of drums, the saxophone, piano, and more and his exposure to Latin culture and artistic traditions outside his own African American experiences. He cites his instruction at the Arts Center, his experience performing, and his competition with other students there as the main reason he was well prepared to play in his high school band. He reflects on the relationship between poverty and identity, particularly for his neighbors how the Arts Center helped him forge a path in life to become the person he is today.
The Arts Center served as an important vehicle for self- expression and learning in the Bridgeport community and mirrored trends in the Black Arts movement taking place on a national level.
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Williams, Lamont
Williams, Lamont