MA Top 30 Professional: Lecolion Washington

Executive Director
Community Music Center of Boston

With over 20 years as a (still) performing bassoonist, 15 years as a music professor, and 10 years as an arts administrator, Lecolion Washington has been “paying it forward” at the helm of the century-old Community Music Center of Boston (CMCB) since 2017. CMBC reports impacting over 3,000 students from pre-school to seniors every week—the largest external provider of arts education to the Boston Public Schools. It also offers a huge array of music lessons at its South End headquarters, from private instruction to chorus, orchestra, chamber ensemble, and rock bands. The mission is more than music, however. Through youth employment and workforce development programs, Washington is helping young musicians develop leadership skills, helping them get a viable start.

In the underserved Texas community where he grew up, efforts like these “served as an entry point to the world at large,” Washington says. “It is a path I have tried to support for others at various points in their lives.”

In 2005, Washington co-founded the PRIZM Ensemble and Chamber Music Festival in Memphis, a series of concerts and lessons by members of the local community, designed to help address the lack of diversity in classical music. He also directed inschool programs for Memphis Music Initiative, a nonprofit devoted to cultivating opportunities for young musicians of color. 

“Whether through working directly with young people…or by working with teaching artists…I have championed for artists to find their own voice in the arts ecosystem,” he says.

In Boston, he has launched a successful $15 million campaign called “Valuing All Voices” enabling the purchase and renovation of a property that will serve as an additional teaching facility as CMSB expands its programming, accessibility, and community connections.

“I have been proud to lean into…creative youth development,” Washington says. “This recognition from Musical America is meaningful to me because…I don’t always get the opportunity reflect on that impact.”