The Multifaceted Career: Lecolion Washington

Longy School of Music of Bard College is proud to present The Multifaceted Career Speaker Series featuring conversations with musicians who defy categorization. As an essential component of Longy’s career coaching program, this series fosters an exploration of how we (re)define individual success in our diverse and growing field.

Lecolion Washington is currently the  Executive Director, for the Community Music Center of Boston. An advocate for music as a means for social change, Mr. Washington currently serves as Co-Founder and Executive Director of the PRIZM Ensemble, a Memphis-based organization that builds a diverse community through chamber music education, youth development, and performance. Under his leadership, PRIZM has created community engagement and youth development programs such as the OMusic Project, a music program in the first African American neighborhood to be built by African Americans. He also oversaw the PRIZM in the Schools program and the PRIZM International Chamber Music Festival. Mr. Washington was later invited to join the Memphis Music Initiative (MMI) as Director of In-School Programs. During his time at MMI, he led a team that created and implemented a teaching artist program, oversaw teacher/principal professional developments, and fostered partnerships between schools and local music nonprofits. In 2015 he was named by the Memphis Business Journal as one of the Top 40 Under 40.

From 2006 to 2013, Mr. Washington served on the faculty of the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival in South Africa. He has coached chamber music, performed concerts, and conducted masterclasses all over the world. His CD entitled Legacy: Music for Bassoon by African-American Composers was released by Albany Records to much acclaim. For 14 years, Mr. Washington served as Associate Professor of Bassoon at the Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music at the University of Memphis, receiving tenure in 2009 at the age of 33. He holds a master of music in orchestral performance from Manhattan School of Music and a bachelor of music in music studies from University of Texas at Austin.

In making the announcement, Music Center Board President Mary Carney said, “I am very excited about the strong leadership team we’ve built at Community Music Center of Boston. We thank our forward-thinking board and our dedicated, tireless search committee headed by Vice President Martin Thomson for bringing the future of the Music Center into focus with the engagement of Lecolion Washington as our new Executive Director. We are confident that this gifted musician and longtime teacher will build on David Lapin’s legacy and will affirm the Music Center’s dynamic position in Boston’s burgeoning arts education environment. We know that everyone in the Music Center family – students, parents, faculty, board members, and especially our funders – will do everything they can to welcome Lecolion and his family to Boston.”

“I am extremely honored that the board of Community Music Center of Boston has selected me as the incoming Executive Director,” said Mr. Washington. “After meeting with the board and spending time with the senior staff, I feel like I was born to be part of the work that the Music Center is doing in Boston. I’m very excited about the future!”

“ACG congratulates Community Music Center of Boston on the appointment of Lecolion Washington as Executive Director,” said ACG President Bruce D. Thibodeau, DBA. “Mr. Washington brings a wealth of experience training a wide array of music students and performing internationally with highly accomplished professional musicians. The Music Center will greatly benefit from his dedication to music education, which will help ensure its legacy in providing equitable access to excellent music education and powerful arts experiences throughout Greater Boston.”