James Waterman

James Waterman is Program Manager for the Community Arts Partnership (CAP) at CalArts, mentoring and employing over fifty CalArts students and alumni each year to teach free art programs for youth at LA County schools and community centers. He has also worked as an Arts Integration Specialist for CAP designing arts-integrated curriculum for science, English, and math teachers at public schools in Los Angeles. 

As a teaching artist and musician, James has facilitated drum circles and hand drumming classes with the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Toyota Symphonies for Youth, and has presented lectures on Ghanaian music and drumming, world music, percussion, and music pedagogy at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), CalArts, and Glendale Community College. He also developed and taught West African djembe classes to high school students in South Los Angeles through the organization CITYstage. 

James received his Master of Fine Arts in World Percussion from California Institute of the Arts, graduated Summa Cum Laude from The Hartt School with a Bachelor of Music in Percussion Performance and Instrumental Music Education, and holds a Single Subject Teaching Credential in Music in the state of California.