Youth Center Sees Grant as Start of Something Big : Pacoima: The city of Los Angeles has given the organization $7,000 for music, dance and drama programs.

The city of Los Angeles awarded more than $3 million in cultural grants to dozens of local artists and organizations last month. Among the groups to receive money was a tiny organization called the Pacoima Community Youth Culture Center.

The center’s $7,327 grant may seem small in comparison to the $27,000 given to the Bella Lewitsky Dance Foundation or the $125,000 going to the Los Angeles Philharmonic Assn. But officials at the Pacoima center see their award as the start of something big.

The youth culture center was established 13 years ago to lure young people away from drugs and street crime with music, dance and drama. The 1990 city grant will pay for one of the center’s most ambitious projects yet--a full-scale musical production.

“We’re grateful for the money. It’s a new beginning for us,” said Leroy Geter, the center’s consultant and original executive director. “It’s a small bridge to a greater highway.”

Geter and current executive director Arthur Broadous work in a cluttered office in the Pacoima Community Center. From this headquarters, they oversee various art and karate classes for youngsters and a gospel choir that was a precursor of the youth culture center.

Jane McGlory started it all in 1974, when her son Bill died of a heroin overdose. After seeing other neighborhood youths die from drugs in subsequent months, McGlory searched for a way to combat the growing problem. She started the Community Gospel Choir, a young people’s musical group that began performing all over the state, including in California Youth Authority camps.

“I know an idle mind is the devil’s workshop,” McGlory said in a 1989 interview, in which she insisted that youths in areas such as Pacoima, Arleta and San Fernando don’t have enough to do with their free time. “There’s no recreation in this northeast part of the San Fernando Valley. . . . There’s not a theater; there’s not a skating rink; there’s not a bowling alley.”

McGlory’s choir soon grew from 16 members to 85. She started a drama group as well, and incorporated her organization. With a rented office at the community center, the new youth culture center began a program to divert youths from drug use and hosted Narcotics Anonymous meetings for youths and adults. Eventually, Saturday tutoring sessions in math and reading began.

As for the arts, Broadous said: “Out here, there’s not a lot of cultural exposure. The kids can’t walk across the street and see a play.”

So culture has always been the center’s primary focus.

“There is basic discipline in the arts,” Broadous said, describing the practice and rehearsals required of choir, drama and dance students. “If you can get a production that the young people are excited about being in, you can teach them basic self-esteem, being fair to others and knowing right from wrong while you’re at it.”

Despite its quick growth, the center subsequently struggled through difficult times. For several years starting in 1985, the group lost much of its funding and had to cut back on subsidized lessons and productions. Even in the best of times, youths at the center rehearse and often perform in a large multipurpose room with chairs and tables stacked against the wall.

When the center produces a play--such as its production of “Don’t Bother Me I Can’t Cope” last May--it must borrow the stage at nearby Maclay Junior High School.

Local residents have pitched in to help. Troy Curvey, who appeared in such shows as “Hill Street Blues” and “Snoops,” directed “Don’t Bother Me.” William Marshall, star of the cult classic “Blacula,” is a strong supporter.

Funding, albeit limited, returned several years ago. The youth culture center resumed dance classes and drama workshops. Broadous began anew to let the community know that the center was still going.

And now, the center has been awarded its first city grant after being turned down. “I was amazed,” Broadous said. He and Geter are considering staging “Gospel at Colonus,” a musical that would involve youths and their families.

Geter, perhaps a bit flush with excitement, said he hopes the production will impress enough community members to launch a fund-raising campaign because the center wants to build its own small performance and rehearsal space.

In addition, he said, the center would like to establish a “contemporary arts live” workshop that would combine music, dance and drama.

“We have arts programs that are crawling,” he said, “and now they are getting ready to walk.”