In The Press
PRESS RELEASES
Urban Voices
Who knew music could be a form of healing and therapy? The Urban Voices Project is changing lives on Skid Row through the joy of singing.
How the Urban Voices Project is giving a voice to Skid Row’s homeless
A staggering 55,000 people are living on the streets in Los Angeles — its epicenter being Skid Row, which has the highest concentration of homelessness in America. In the midst of this crisis, the Urban Voices Project is giving this community a place to be heard and find purpose. TODAY’s Craig Melvin reports.
Christopher Mack Wants to Change the Conversation Around Homelessness
"If anybody ever tells you that they are an expert in homelessness, run!" cautions Christopher Mack, community outreach worker with the Wesley Community Health Clinic on L.A.'s Skid Row.
Urban Voices Project Sets Skid Row to Singing
UVP was supposed to be a short-term community outreach project. After four years of private fundraising and struggling to find sufficient funds, UVP is becoming a 501(c)3 charitable organization.
Handel’s “Messiah,” on Skid Row
Three years ago, Brian Palmer, a forty-three-year-old native of Beaumont, California, was a homeless man struggling to overcome heroin addiction. One activity that helped him through the skittish early period of sobriety was singing.
Reinstilling Dignity with Guest Christopher Mack
Christopher Mack has been a lead community worker on skid row in downtown Los Angeles for 15 years. He has a unique understanding of community and what it involves and how best to work with individuals, always leaving them with their dignity.
An L.A. Phil reminder that but a mile, and fate, separate Disney Hall from skid row
Friday morning in Disney, the Los Angeles Philharmonic performed an unflinchingly ferocious performance of Prokofiev’s Sixth Symphony. The moment the concert was over, a number of the players immediately took off their concert dress, donned Street Symphony T-shirts and headed to skid row.
"You have to love people. That's what we are. We're people."
Meet Christopher Mack, a community outreach worker in the neighborhood of Skid Row. He's also a member of the Urban Voices Project, a community choir comprised of people affected by homelessness.
Raising voices, changing lives
A song of hope is rising on Skid Row, thanks to the musical efforts of the Urban Voices Project. Listen in as current and formerly homeless singers raise their voices in a celebration of art, community and human potential.
A Performance of Handel's Messiah in a Homeless Shelter Brings Hope to Skid Row
In a building at the corner of San Pedro and Sixth, a choir raises its collective voice in a chorus of “hallelujahs,” filling the gym of the Midnight Mission with a blast of sublime sound.
'The Messiah' from opposite ends of the economic spectrum
Last week there happened to be something remarkable: two different (and they couldn’t have been more different) performances of Handel’s oratorio oriented around the one percent — the top and bottom one percent, that is.
Choir Attracts Singers From LA's Skid Row
When they're not in rehearsal, some of the Colburn Wesley Project singers live on the streets of Los Angeles. The unlikely choir will be performing through this holiday season.
Skid row singers soothe their bruised souls -- together
The Colburn Wesley Project singers stepped out onto the 51st floor of a downtown Los Angeles skyscraper to make their debut.
