The Music Center’s Black Bar Social: A TEC Leimert Prospective

TEC Leimert is leading the way for technology and entertainment convergence in South Los Angeles, bringing together industry experts and thought leaders committed to bridging the digital divide and fostering equitable Black futures. 

Considered one of the region’s cultural leaders, Ben Caldwell is an artist, director, educator, independent filmmaker and mentor, offering professional advice and support through his KAOS Network media lab and open mic hip-hop workshops. Caldwell grew up assisting his grandfather, who projected movies at a small theatre in New Mexico and developed a passion for the visual arts. After studying film at UCLA, he spent the early 1980s teaching film and video at Howard University in Washington, D.C., before returning in 1984 to Southern California’s historic Leimert Park neighborhood to create an independent studio for video production and experimentation. In what eventually became known as the KAOS Network, Caldwell’s studio remains the only organization of its kind in South Central Los Angeles that offers courses in video production, animation, web development and even video teleconferencing and the Internet. Caldwell served as a full-time faculty member at the California Institute of the Arts. Always an inspiration, Caldwell created the now highly regarded Leimert Art Walk and has been connecting youth to art through technology for decades.