With support from the California Arts Council, the Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles will teach the great orchestral repertoire to young musicians who live in the Inner City communities of Los Angeles, present a season of 8-10 free concerts to the South Central communities of Los Angeles featuring these young inner city musicians, and instill within its members the ancillary benefits that ensemble music instruction provides: self-respect; self-discipline; respect for property – their own and others; real-time problem solving; critical thinking; leadership; teamwork; practice; the pursuit of perfection; and meaningful purpose. We also offer a Drum Corps program that serves both the youth who live within our community, and those who are incarcerated in Los Angeles County Juvenile Hall facilities, offering this later class of youngsters opportunities to learn skills and hope for release.
ICYOLA offers five programs: the ICYOLA Orchestra Program; the ICYOLA Academy; the South Los Angeles Music Project; the Los Angeles Orchestra Fellowship; and the ICYOLA Drum Corps. Through the ICYOLA Orchestra Program, we present an annual Concert Season that features both the standard orchestral repertoire and contemporary music that resounds within the community that ICYOLA serves. Through the South Los Angeles Music Project, we offer introductory and diversionary music programs to young people who are at risk of entry into the juvenile justice system. Through the Los Angeles Orchestra Fellowship, we train emerging professionals to take and win auditions with American orchestras. The ICYOLA Drum Corps trains young musicians how to play drums and march in step. All ICYOLA programs instill the ancillary values of music into their members. Those values include self-respect, respect for others and property, chain of command, and the pursuit of excellence in all things.

