Ben Caldwell
Kaos Network
Ben Caldwell runs Kaos Network a multimedia training & arts center. Started in 1990 as a meeting place for creative adults and young people, his goal today is for kids and adults to learn and use the new media technology. He worked with the Brockman Gallery in the 70's while he was a UCLA film student. He and fellow student Charles Burnett, director of "To Sleep with Anger," would "come to Leimert Park and say, ‘Why don't we do what we're doing in the black community, not run from it? Figure out what the black community wants, and do it.'" Ben says, "It's important for me to stay here in the community…it helps to establish consistency in a community that has a lack of consistency."
Kaos Network is probably most well-known for Thursday night's "Project Blowed." Projected Blowed is a hip hop and rap open mike night that gave birth to rappers and rap groups such as Aceyalone, Medusa, Busdriver, Freestyle Fellowship, and Jurassic Five, and continues to provide an atmosphere where up-and-coming rappers can hone their skills. |
