“Promoting Arts Education in the Community through Educational Grants”
Mission Statement
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Choir San Diego (MLKCCSD) is a non-profit charitable organization. The Choir’s purpose is to raise funds through a series of concerts for educational grants that we distribute to aspiring college-bound high school majors in Visual and Performing Arts from the San Diego County area.
If you would like to support the cause of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Choir San Diego, please contact us.
History
From left to right: Cherry Arnold-Verry, Glenn L. Jones, Louise E. Pearson, and Ken Anderson
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative Choir was conceived in 1990 through collaboration of the San Diego Symphony Association, the San Diego County Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance and the San Diego Baptist Ministers Union. The first performance of this Choir was organized and directed by Louise E. Pearson, a music educator with the San Diego Unified School District, now retired. The Rev. Glenn L. Jones, former Pastor of Mt. Sinai Baptist Church then conducted the choir for the next five years.
The Choir originally joined together to perform annually as the Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative Choir. The Choir at that time featured approximately 200 voices from the San Diego County community. The purpose was to raise funds for scholarship grants by performing musical tributes of gospel favorites, with the San Diego Symphony.
Meet the Director
Ken Anderson
In 1996, Pastor Ken Anderson, through the assistance of the San Diego County Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance and the San Diego Baptist Ministers Union, became the Director of the Martin Luther King Commemorative Choir.
In 1997, Pastor Anderson reorganized the Choir, renamed it – Martin Luther King Jr. Community Choir San Diego – with a new purpose and a Board of Directors. Pastor Anderson changed the performance schedule from once a year to a full concert series, starting in September and ending in June. Pastor Ken also arranged, wrote, and directed most of the songs on MLK’s CDs.
In addition to volunteering his time to direct MLKCCSD, Pastor Anderson is the senior pastor at Mt. Olive Church of God in Christ; a music teacher in the public school system; and Director of the UCSD Gospel Choir.
