Our Mission

The Inner City Cultural Center (ICCC) was conceived from a singular idea: that the arts can be a powerful tool for equity, truth, and transformation. Born in the heart of Los Angeles in 1965, ICCC was the first multicultural, multi-ethnic, and multi-racial arts institution of its kind—envisioned by C. Bernard Jackson and co-founded with Dr. J. Alfred Cannon.  

Jackson’s artistic journey began with Fly Blackbird (1961-1962), a bold musical that challenged the narratives of segregation and introduced the world to a multiracial cast, including then-UCLA student George Takei. Set against the backdrop of the Civil Rights era, Fly Blackbird planted the seed of what would become a revolutionary institution—one that valued collaboration, representation, and storytelling through an inclusive cultural lens.

This pioneering spirit directly challenged the era's pervasive segregation, discrimination, misrepresentation and the stereotypical roles prevalent in media, at this time. Jackson and Cannon’s core belief in collaboration, communication, and creation across cultural, ethnic, and racial groups, using the arts as a vehicle, became the ICCC's guiding principle.

ICCC emerged in the wake of the 1965 Watts Rebellion, perfectly timed with the establishment of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). While President John F. Kennedy championed the arts, it was President Lyndon B. Johnson who signed the NEA into law in September 1965. With crucial support from NEA funding, the U.S. Department of Education, the Ford Foundation, LAUSD, and Hollywood luminaries like Gregory Peck and Veronique Peck, Sidney Poitier, Robert Wise and Marlo Thomas, the ICCC's vision was realized.

In 1967, ICCC launched its inaugural season, showcasing a vision far ahead of its time—immediately embodying a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, and multi-racial philosophy, i.e. color-blind and non-traditional casting—a concept revolutionary for its time and predating the common use of "multiculturalism”. Inner City presented works across cultural traditions, training diverse artists, and dedicating spaces like the Langston Hughes Memorial Library to amplify historically excluded voices as the Inner City Touring Company carried these works beyond LA, sharing stories written by African-American, Asian-American, Indigenous, and Latinx artists with communities across the region.

The ICCC became the nation's first minority-owned and operated performing and visual arts institution, providing a platform and a space for unheralded talent sparking countless careers and forging an unparalleled cultural and historical legacy^.

It was a cultural oasis, dedicated to showcasing works by diverse minority authors, playwrights, and composers, and home to the Langston Hughes Memorial Library^.

This profound legacy of diversity, equity, and inclusion is what we are committed to honoring and preserving. IN this last decade we have renewed our efforts to raise awareness of the immense artistic and cultural contributions of C. Bernard Jackson, Dr. Cannon, ICCC alumni, and Los Angeles-based artists, arts organization and other cultural workers.

ICCC wasn’t just an institution—it was a movement. 

Today, while the original spaces are gone, the legacy lives on. Through the Cultural Legacy Project, we are creating the C. Bernard Jackson Memorial Library and Cultural Center (CBJMLCC), a public institution, a national first for Los Angeles—the world's largest, most diverse arts and creative capital. It will be a home for archives, exhibitions, performances, and community engagement, it will reflect the same mission that ignited ICCC: to celebrate the creativity of underrepresented communities, preserve their rightful place in history, and fulfill the original vision of the Langston Hughes Library and honoring C. Bernard Jackson's enduring mission.

Launching the Cultural Legacy Project 

We are now launching the “Global Support for the Arts—One City at a Time™” campaign from 2025-2028 to bring this vision to life.

The centerpiece of this campaign, which we envision replicating for others, is the C. Bernard Jackson Memorial Library and Cultural Center (CBJMLCC). It will be open to the public as a lasting institutional legacy to the city of Los Angeles as “A Place Where You Can Check Out Art Or Check Art In™”

As Mr. Jackson profoundly stated, "Art may be the only tool we have left to save ourselves from destruction".

Let us use that tool—together. Support this endeavor. Help us ensure that our past is not forgotten, our stories are not erased, and our cultural future burns bright with purpose.

Let our past be the prologue to a bright future, a new beginning, and a new chapter of success.

Thank you.