Our Mission
The Otis Redding Foundation’s mission is to empower, enrich, and motivate all young people through programs involving music, writing and instrumentation.
Each partnership and program sponsored since its inception in 2007 supports the philanthropic commitment of Otis Redding to empower and enlighten all young people to fulfill their dreams.
Otis Redding was dedicated to improving the quality of life for our community through the education and empowerment of its youth. Prior to his untimely passing in 1967, Otis Redding was already awarding scholarships to young students continuing their education. After his death, his widow Mrs. Zelma Redding continued his philanthropic efforts, and established the Otis Redding Foundation in his honor in 2007. With its roots in music, the Foundation offers opportunities for youth to exercise their talents and expand their abilities.
Our Story
The legendary Otis Redding was raised in Macon, Georgia, and while he did not himself finish his academic studies, he fully understood the impact of an education and made a commitment to empowering others.
By 1967, Redding’s music career had skyrocketed, opening the door for unlimited opportunities. He knew where he came from—and where he wanted to give back—and remained a resident of Middle Georgia. Redding recognized that he could serve as a powerful agent in his native South, utilizing his influence as a rising Soul star to affect positive change.
To that end, he began funding educational initiatives in his local community. In 1967, as told to Blues and Soul magazine, Redding took time out of his upcoming touring schedule for a “special project,” a summer camp for local youth hosted on his newly-built ranch in Jones County, Georgia. The camp was to incorporate athletic activities alongside lessons in civics and economics in an effort to show the underprivileged youth of Middle Georgia a world beyond their neighborhoods.
For Redding, music served as a ticket out of poverty and the South’s societal limitations. Having successfully identified his own path, he was inspired to leverage his success for others in his community to follow, recognizing education as a universal pathway forward.
Though a tragic plane crash in 1967 cut Otis Redding’s life short, his legacy and dedication to education in his community would live on.”
Phil Walden, Otis Redding’s manager, congratulates the first two recipients of the Otis Redding Scholarship Fund.
A full-page ad, placed in Billboardʼs August 31, 1974 issue by Phil Walden and Capricorn Records, advocates for the creation of a scholarship fund in Otis Redding’s name to benefit African American students wishing to attend Mercer University’s law school
A Legacy To Honor
The Otis Redding Foundation was decades in the making. For 40 years after her husband’s initial devotion to the concept, Zelma Redding championed for his camp to come to life. She paired his musical talents with his commitment to education, evolving the camp from a civic-focused pedagogy to one dedicated to music.
In 2007, with the formal establishment of the Otis Redding Foundation and in partnership with the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, an inaugural program was hosted, bringing budding singer-songwriters together for a week.
Otis Redding’s vision of an educational summer camp finally became a reality.
Zelma Redding speaks with Sepia magazine about her husband’s legacy in October 1972.
Decades In The Making
October 1962
“These Arms of Mine,” Otis Redding’s debut single for Stax Records, is released.
Summer 1967
Otis Redding vocalizes his intention to further invest in education and create a summer camp dedicated to empowering youth.
December 10, 1967
The tragic loss of Otis Redding.
1970’s
Zelma Redding continues her late husband’s commitment to providing educational opportunities for children in the Middle Georgia region. Zelma works tirelessly to preserve and cement Otis Redding’s work and legacy. She briefly works with the Paragon Agency, an extension of Redding’s former management team, to learn the ins and outs of the music business, which proved essential in negotiating and retaining publishing rights for the Otis Redding catalog. She opens her own nightclub, New Directions, in Macon.
1980’s
Zelma operates her own booking agency and record store, all while championing the legacy and catalog of Otis Redding. As sampling of music rises in popularity, Zelma continues to track down uses of Otis’ songs to ensure proper credits. This same diligence in sustaining a musical legacy carries over into her passion for educating a younger generation. Zelma also shepherds the entry of her own sons into the music industry, where they find success performing as The Reddings.
1990’s
Mother and daughter team Zelma and Karla Redding-Andrews open Karla’s Shoe Boutique, a high-end women’s show and handbag store. Dreams, an upscale clothing boutique a block away, opens in the Cotton Avenue building that will become the Otis Redding Foundation offices. Through partnerships with organization like the Boys and Girls Club of America, the United Negro College Fund, and others, Zelma shares her success and contributes to educational awareness in Middle Georgia and beyond.
2000’s
Zelma co-founds Piedmont Community Bank. As work begins to formally establish a charitable foundation in Otis Redding’s name, she funds the purchase of high-school senior Roderick Cox’s first instrument, a French horn, a prerequisite to his acceptance at Columbus State Univeristy. She provides support throughout his undergraduate and postgraduate studies in music education. Today, Cox, one of only a handful of black orchestral conductors, credits his success to Mrs. Redding and the Otis Redding Foundation.
2007
Zelma formally establishes the Otis Redding Foundation in her late husband’s honor. The same year, the new foundation hosts its first summer camp, Otis Music Camp during which students ages 12-18 write and record their own compositions and culminate the experience with a finale performance.
2018
The first Camp Dream is held in the summer to provide an opportunity to kids ages 5-11 an opportunity to explore different artistic disciplines including music, dance, theatre, and visual arts.
September 9th 2022
Lester Miller, Mayor of Macon, GA, proclaimed September 9th and 10th Zelma and Otis Redding Weekend in the city. September 9th would have been the multi-award-winning artist Otis Redding’s 81st birthday.
Ground broke for the Otis Redding Center for the Arts on Cotton Avenue in Downtown Macon, Georgia.
The Road Ahead
Fall 2024
The new facility for the Otis Redding Center for the Arts will open in the fall of 2024. Located steps away from Otis Redding’s 1960’s Cotton Avenue office, the center will be a central destination for youth educational programming in Downtown Macon. The new center will feature lab spaces, practice rooms, and studio space for students to explore songwriting, production, performance, visual arts, and more.
Outside, an amphitheater will open up onto Downtown Macon’s main thoroughfare and serve as a venue for student performance, a music-filled community gathering space, a public face on the continued legacy of Otis Redding’s music, and a symbol of an educational dream come to fruition.
