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a Performance!
"With arresting harmonies, a repertoire of old-school
soul and gospel, and a winning stage presence, the singers
are making a name for themselves musically and proving there
can be new beginnings for people given up as lost causes."
-- The Los Angeles Times
| 
(From
left to right, back to front) George Hill (Director),
Michelle Mayne, Gary Bergner, John
Hill, John Phillips,
Carleton
Griffin, Sharon Frochen, Joseph Johnson and
Kelvin Kirby. |
The New Directions Choir consists of current and former residents
of New Directions, a long-term residential treatment center,
serving more than 800 veterans a year, located on the grounds
of the Department of Veterans Affairs VA Greater Los Angeles
Healthcare System. Approximately 27,000 homeless veterans
reside in Los Angeles, comprising more than 33% of the area’s
homeless. New Directions, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit agency founded
by formerly homeless veterans, provides drug and alcohol detoxification,
intensive substance abuse treatment, and job training.
The New Directions Choir performs both popular songs and traditional
gospel music, a cappella. It has performed at more than 100
events, including the Donnie and Marie Show, the Democratic
National Convention and the Los Angeles Public Library opening
ceremony of "The Way Home" photo exhibition, featuring
photographs of the homeless by Tipper Gore, Annie Liebovitz,
Clarence Williams and other renowned photographers.
As the National Veterans Creative Arts Festival "Gold
Medal Winners" of Los Angeles, the choir was invited
to participate at a weeklong competition in Washington D.C.,
where they won "first place" at the National Veterans
Creative Arts Festival. The competition was hosted by Washington
D.C. VA Medical Center and was an official millennium event
produced in partnership with the White House Millennium Council
and featured regional Veteran Performers from all over the
United States.
New Directions Choir Director and songwriter George Hill was
homeless for 10 years, living in MacArthur Park. A graduate
of New Directions, he is now majoring in computer science
at Santa Monica College. "Through singing, we hope
to let other vets who are still out there know there is another
way," he said.
Photo
reprinted courtesy of the Los Angeles Times (George Wilhelm,
photographer)
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New Directions, Inc.
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