10-Week Youth Arts Intensive
A fun after-school arts program for youth ages 10-16 of all skill levels,
encompassing vocals and dance, held at Oakland's Geoffrey's Inner Circle
Tuesdays 3/19/24 - 5/21/24
Vocals 4:00-5:30pm
Dance 6:00-7:30pm
Sign up for one or both!
Student Recital Saturday May 25, 2024, 4pm
Geoffrey's Inner Circle
410 14th St Oakland, CA 94612
This program is offered at no cost. A $100 nonrefundable application fee is required to ensure limited slots are available to serious participants
Click HERE to complete the registration form
Submit the completed form via email to fayecarolbiz@gmail.com or via USPS to P.O. Box 3021 Berkeley, CA 94703
This 10-Week Youth Arts Intensive is offered at no cost for youth participants ages 10-16 of all skill levels. Our goal is to instill and cultivate a love of the arts in each student, with a well-rounded, powerful curriculum in vocals and dance. We aim to foster a community based on mutual respect and encouragement so all students can discover and explore their creativity and expression. Our powerful faculty features legendary vocalist and educator Faye Carol and dancer and educator Charles Simon, who will guide students of all levels through a life-changing learning experience.
Classes
Students may sign up for one or both classes
Vocals - Faye Carol
Discover the joy of singing and explore your voice through harmony, repertoire, and improv.
Dance - Charles Simon
Get in the groove and get hip to hip-hop moves, grooves, and choreography.
Faculty/Staff
Faye Carol - Vocals, Co-Producer
The Dynamic Miss Faye Carol is known as an icon in the Bay Area and beyond, highly regarded for her powerful voice, astonishing versatility, and gift of connecting with her audience. Equally at home in jazz, blues, R&B, gospel, funk, latin, and hip-hop, she has developed her own authentic sound and unique delivery, delighting audiences young and old across the globe. After beginning her career with gospel music, Faye Carol made her name singing with Oakland blues and funk legend Johnny Talbot & De Thangs before forming her own trio and gaining fame in San Francisco's jazz, blues, and cabaret clubs of the 1970s and 80s. Over a 60-year career in music, this living legend has developed her own unique acoustic sound and style in Black Music - drawing from funk, blues, gospel, and straight ahead swingin' - and cultivated an audience that remains as diverse as her uplifting music. She has maintained a high level of musicianship in her groups, mentoring some of the Bay Area's brightest young talent including pianist Benny Green, bassist Marcus Shelby, and her daughter Kito Kamili. Her vocal proteges include international superstars Kehlani & Ledisi.
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​Miss Faye has shared the stage with Marvin Gaye, Ray Charles, Pharaoh Sanders, Joan Baez, Billy Higgins, Albert King, Bobby Hutcherson, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Buster Williams, Azar Lawrence, Steve Turre, Dennis Chambers, Bernard Purdie, Lenny White, Roy McCurdy, Sun Ra, Robert Randolph, Mistah F.A.B., Henry Butler, Gary Bartz, Cedar Walton, Ledisi, Philly Joe Jones, Dorothy Donegan, Pete Escovedo, David Murray, Chester Thompson, Charles Brown, and Eddie 'Cleanhead' Vinson, among others.
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Miss Faye is also a dedicated educator and founder of School of the Getdown. She has been honored with the proclamation of a city-wide “Faye Carol Day” in the City of Berkeley and inducted into the Oakland Walk of Fame, the Meridian Mississippi Walk of Fame, and the Pittsburg Entertainment and Arts Hall of Fame, and has received countless awards including the 2014 Bay Area Jazz Journalists Association Jazz Hero Award, Jefferson Award for Public Service, four Cabaret Gold Awards, Top Star Awards Entertainer of the Year, and a prestigious 2021 Hewlett 50 Arts Commission.
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Miss Faye has taught for over three decades at programs and schools including Jazz Camp West, Jam Camp West, East Bay Institute for Urban Arts, Berkeley Black Repertory Theater, Blues in the Schools, Oakland School for the Arts, and her own Music in the Community and School of The Getdown programs. Additionally, she has been a guest clinician at countless schools and educational programs including Young Musicians Choral Orchestra, Elevate Oakland, Jazzschool, College of Alameda, and Eastside Arts Alliance.
Charles Simon - Dance
Charles Simon has been professionally dancing since the age of 13 for the Golden State Warriors, H&M, Oakland Raiders, and the San Francisco 49ers. He is also a multi-instrumentalist, playing five different instruments including guitar, bass, drums, piano, and voice. Rap also began at an early age while in school using rhymes to express himself. He began to freestyle and perform professionally in high school at age sixteen. While studying music at Santa Fe University of Art and Design Charles joined a rap group named Spacemob Space Cadets. This helped to gain focus on what he wanted to say as an artist and taught him how to work in a musical group as a vocalist. A large part of his rap experience has come from freestyling. Charles has performed with musicians like Zeal Levin as a special guest in the Art and Soul Festival in 2016. He teaches in the Oakland Unified School District and taught hip-hop dance at the 2023 School of The Getdown Youth Arts Camp.
Joe Warner - Accompanist, Co-Producer
Pianist Joe Warner is one of the Bay Area's brightest young talents, quickly gaining recognition for his compelling style and exceptional performances. He has performed as Pianist and Musical Director for The Dynamic Miss Faye Carol for over ten years, leads the Joe Warner Trio, and has also performed or recorded with Jeff 'Tain' Watts, Buster Williams, Gary Bartz, Azar Lawrence, Mistah F.A.B., Mary Stallings, Steve Turre, Robert Randolph, Kenny Washington, Marcus Shelby Orchestra, Johnny Talbot, Stephanie Crawford, Elena Pinderhughes, Roy McCurdy, Billy Hart, Craig Handy, Eric Wyatt, Marvin 'Smitty' Smith, Lenny White, Casey Benjamin, Dennis Chambers, Bernard Purdie, The California Honeydrops, Willie Jones III, Jules Broussard, Freddie Hughes, Derick Hughes, Martin Luther, John Santos, Oakland Symphony, Rickey Woodard, John Handy, Valerie Troutt, and Denise Perrier, among others.
This program is supported by California Arts Council