Leave It For the Children

Leave it for the Children: A Visual History of the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra blends new and archival images and ephemera to highlight the ongoing legacy of the internationally renowned community jazz organization.

Leave It for the Children: A Visual History of the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra explores the sixty-plus years of the legendary Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, the community music ensemble formed in Los Angeles by Horace Tapscott. Through a deep and sustained relationship with a wide range of visual material connected to the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra—personal and sourced photographs, album covers, poster art, music sheets, international newspaper clippings, concert flyers, documentary and feature films, and collected ephemera, this publication traces the history of The Ark, its ongoing iterations, and speaks to Los Angeles’s shifting social and political landscape. Punctuating these sourced materials will be a series of commissioned texts from musicians, poets, historians, writers and artists. These contributions will take various forms—from poetry and essays to interviews and first-person reflections, creating a visual document based on, and serving as a testament to, The Ark’s sixty-plus year living history of music and community art.