Charles Sykes announced his retirement as the executive director of the African American Art Institute at Indiana University after 34 years of service in the position, according to a Feb. 13 IU press release.
“The African American Arts Institute is an important part of why Indiana University is such a special place, and Charles Sykes has been instrumental in bringing the uniqueness and creativity that is the AAAI to so many people,” IU Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion James Wimbush wrote in the release. “His contributions and influence are a critical part of the institute’s history.”
Sykes’ career started as a music education graduate student in the Jacobs School of Music in 1980s. He worked with the AAAI as a technical supervisor and horn coach for IU Soul Revue, a Black popular music ensemble, until becoming executive director in 1990.
According to the release, over a thousand students had the opportunity to work with the institute’s ensembles or work in instructional, technical or managerial areas.
“As I move from this position, I want to believe that Indiana University will find a way to take care of this program,” Sykes said. “It’s really important to me, and I will trust that Indiana University will take care of this program by doing all that it can do to sustain it in good health.”
Sykes said one of his favorite moments was launching a record label, AAAI Records. The record label’s lone album release is titled, “Inspire Me!” and features songs recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We were not supposed to be able to pull together a choir — at least nature tells us that — and record because there were some restrictions,” Sykes said. “All through use of technology, safe distancing, and just being stubborn, we went into that year with the idea that we were going to make sure that all of our students were safe, and that they had a meaningful learning experience.”
Sykes is also affiliate faculty at IU and teaches classes in the African American and African Diaspora Studies and Folklore and Ethnomusicology departments.
“Teaching is a part of my soul,” Sykes said.
He developed the first for-credit college course on the Motown Record Corp. in 1995. Sykes has taught the course since then and will teach it this summer.
Raymond Wise will assume Sykes’ position of executive director July 1, 2024. Wise is currently the associate director of AAAI and director of the African American Choral Ensemble.
“In assuming this position, I understand the responsibility and gravity of maintaining the legacy of the AAAI,” Wise said in the release. “However, I look forward to building upon the foundation laid and charting new pathways to new and exciting possibilities.”
Sykes will continue working with AAAI in a limited capacity as a historian.
“I would like to use the things that I know and have learned about this program to help write that story,” Sykes said. “Little bits of that story that other people don’t know. I want to be involved in that, helping those people who are here now and people who will be here in the future understand this program and its importance here at Indiana University.”
