Feature: Rex & Friends CONCERT FROM THE STARS at The Blue Door 10/24

CRE Outreach and Rex & Friends are please to present CONCERT FROM THE STARS, a Zoom performance by musicians with disabilities on Saturday, October 24, 2020 at 7pm PST. Led by musician Rex-Lewis Clack, the 23-year-old blind and autistic pianist hailed as a musical savant by "60 Minutes," and helmed by Musical Director Laurie Grant, Rex & Friends provides training and performance opportunities for musicians with disabilities, during which participants develop their musical repertoire in an environment that grows friendships, self-esteem, and interpersonal skills while performing for live and virtual audiences.

The gifted musicians and singers from Rex & Friends, including Rex Lewis-Clack, August McAdoo, Patrick Storey, Alan Davis, Jonetta Ward, Igor Zaninovich, Jennifer Bevans, Crysten Craig, and Michael Gourzis, all of whom are extraordinary performers who have discovered the power of music to transcend any disability.

"As a parent, I couldn't be more proud of the young man Michael has become. Playing guitar and singing as the newest member of Rex & Friends, Michael thoroughly enjoys being part of this talented group. Above all, he works hard every day to push back against his challenges to live the fully independent life he desires."

- Mike & Melanie Gourzis, son Michael (age 16) is on the Autism spectrum and recently joined Rex & Friends

As the world has been on pause during the pandemic, CRE Outreach is busier than ever. We are still holding rehearsals on the phone and zoom, and Rex & Friends has been recording songs as a virtual choir. Here's an example of one of their covers-Billy Joel's "For the Longest Time": https://youtu.be/gzpDCh7MPQI

CRE Outreach is committed to making the arts accessible to all. In that spirit, our Zoom performance on October 24, 2020 at 7PM is free and open to the public. Reservations for free tickets are required in order to receive the URL and can be made on Eventbrite: Tinyurl.com/FromStars. For questions or more information, please contact House Manager Abby Hilden: (310) 425-8215 or ahilden@creoutreach.org. The show's run time is approximately 45 minutes.

Additionally, as we've been forced to reimagine what programming looks like during this pandemic, we've decided that now is the perfect time to also reimagine our brand. Over the past decade CRE Outreach has doubled our programming and opened our own theatre, so we want our brand to represent the amazing work we do using the arts to uplift lives, particularly for military veterans, people with disabilities, and underserved youth. Please stay tuned following the Rex & Friends performance, as CRE will be making a big announcement about launching our new brand Arts UP! LA (this information is embargoed until October 24, 2020 at 7PM PST). We hope you are as excited as we are by our new brand, logo, and messaging.

More About CRE Outreach

CRE Outreach is a non-profit performing arts organization dedicated to empowering underserved youth, people with disabilities, and military veterans in greater Los Angeles. CRE stands for Create, Reflect, Empower-words that encompass the process, focus, and targeted outcomes of our programs. Since 2007, CRE Outreach has utilized theatre, the performing arts, and educational programs as a means to enhance self-esteem, encourage self-expression, and empower individuals to overcome the challenges in their lives. https://creoutreach.org.

More About Rex & Friends

Named in honor of Rex Lewis-Clack, who was born blind and then diagnosed with autism as a toddler, Rex & Friends is a program that provides support and training in musical abilities, and performance opportunities for individuals in Southern California who are blind or autistic. Both of these disabilities tend to isolate, and the program is geared to help bridge this isolation. We bring these musicians together and provide ongoing professional support and guidance, encouraging participants develop their musical repertoire in an environment that is sure to grow friendships, self-esteem, and skill while rehearsing and ultimately performing in front of live audiences.

Rex & Friends was founded by Matt Wolf in 2012. Previously a standalone 501(c)(3) charity, Rex & Friends joined forces with CRE Outreach for a performance in October 2016. Because of their similar missions of transforming lives through the arts, the two organizations saw profound results from that collaboration. By March 2017, the two organizations committed to a continued partnership, and Rex & Friends became on official program of CRE Outreach. Read more about Rex & Friends online: https://creoutreach.org/our-programs/rex-friends/.

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