Dr. Juan Crawford has appointed Mrs. Clarice Freeman as the Historical Advisor of the African American Leadership Council of the Houston Symphony.
Freeman, the 102-year-old widow of the late Dr. Thomas F. Freeman, will help to archive the historical data and information of what has been done to encourage optimal involvement of African Americans as musicians and supporters of the Houston Symphony.
“Having been appointed by Dr. Crawford, I am honored to have the opportunity to serve on the African American Leadership Council,” said Freeman, whose brother-in-law Maestro Paul Freeman was a well-known conductor in the U.S. and Europe. “I am the first African American to be invited to join a fundraising committee for the Houston Symphony. The purpose of our involvement was to encourage the African American community to get more involved with the Houston Symphony.”
Council membership is comprised of business, education and community leaders tasked with advising the Symphony on how it can better connect with Greater Houston’s Black community.
Crawford took on the mantle of council leadership just this year, to the delight of Houston Symphony leaders.
“We are thrilled and honored that Dr. Crawford has accepted this role with the Symphony’s African American Leadership Council,” said Houston Symphony Executive Director and CEO John Mangum. “Dr. Crawford has been a member of the Council since its inception. With his longstanding dedication to the Symphony and deep understanding of the community, Dr. Crawford will be an outstanding leader as the Symphony continues to endeavor to establish meaningful connections to our Houston community.”
Freeman has been an active musician for decades and has worked with earlier committees of the Houston Symphony.
Her personal experiences and fine memory of her involvement with the symphony will help to improve the veracity of the historical reporting and sharing of events spanning her years of mentoring young musicians. Her charge has been kept for many years. She persists and perseveres to help develop strategies to improve and sustain the involvement of African Americans in the world of music for generations to come.
“The work that Dr. Crawford and Mrs. Freeman will do is aligned with my belief in the inspirational and healing power of listening to and appreciating classical music,” said Reverend Jacqueline Brannon Giles, legendary mathematician and professor at Texas Southern University and Houston Community College. “As a young person and even in my senior years, music has always calmed me and awakened my hope for a harmonious life. I studied classical piano with Dr. Charles Rhinehart at Texas Southern University and I learned to see the connection between musical key and emotive expression. I believe Dr. Crawford and Mrs. Freeman, who I met at the Elders Institute of Wisdom at S.H.A.P.E. Community Center, will continue to inspire people to appreciate these connections.”
According to Giles, Freeman read about Crawford’s appointment to lead the African American Leadership Council and immediately called her for help to make arrangements to meet Crawford.
“Dr. Crawford and Mrs. Freeman’s initial meeting was so powerful that Dr. Crawford has given Mrs. Freeman the title, ‘My best friend,'” Giles shared.
“The wisdom of an elder in collaboration with an energetic and brilliant leader such as Dr. Crawford can only serve to build a synergy to accomplish the charge assigned to both creative partners, working with the African American Leadership Council of the Houston Symphony,” Giles added.
