Saugus resident Bret Lieberman wanted to find work in the music business or try to teach. He came to a crossroads after receiving his bachelor’s degree from California State University, Northridge, in 2000.
At the time, the music industry, he said, was on rocky ground. Napster, the online music sharing platform, had been facilitating the free exchange of copyrighted music, and the industry was trying to gain footing in the new digital age. Lieberman’s dad, who was an educator, offered his son some advice.
“He said, ‘Why don’t you just try to combine both of your passions, and you can always do music later on? Why don’t you put your focus into education?’ So, that was the route I took,” Lieberman said during a recent telephone interview. “Obviously, later, I’m now blending my love of music and doing the things behind the scenes with the students.”
Lieberman, 46, is the executive director and creator of Yes I Can Unity Through Music and Education, a nonprofit organization that provides career-skills training and employment services to adults with disabilities. The program came out of his love for music and education.
Growing up in Los Angeles, Lieberman said he was very much exposed to the L.A. music scene. When he was in ninth grade, his dad got a job in the William S. Hart Union High School District, and the family moved to Santa Clarita.
“It was a big culture shock to go from L.A. to Santa Clarita,” he said. “But Santa Clarita has been home and has really been supportive of my endeavors. I take a lot of pride in being someone in Santa Clarita that is doing good work and giving opportunities to individuals who need our support.”
After deciding to go into teaching, Lieberman went to California State University, Bakersfield, to get his master’s degree in curriculum and instruction. He also got a certification to teach children with autism.
In 2003, he got a job teaching the autism program at Valencia High School. That’s when he started what was then called the Stop, Drop and Rock music event that would eventually become the Summer Meltdown shows after he moved over to Golden Valley High School a year later, where he was honored as Golden Valley’s “first teacher of the year.” Those shows provided an opportunity for his students to organize and crew what he called large-scale events.
Lieberman said that, over the years, he’s brought in talents like the rock band Fishbone, Stephen Perkins from Jane’s Addiction and Aaron “P-Nut” Wills from the band 311.
After a few years at Golden Valley, Lieberman moved over to Canyon High School, where he currently teaches the autism program.
All the while, his students continued doing the music festival.
“It’s a wealth of knowledge and a wealth of skills,” Lieberman said. “The students get to deal with contracts. They deal with agents, managers, publicists. They learn how to create merchandise, deal with permitting and stage rentals.”
He added that what he found from the experience of doing those shows was that students were offered jobs and opportunities because they learned what they were passionate about, having the exposure to all of the different aspects of the entertainment business including management, promotion, sound, lighting, staging, security, catering and more.
It was in 2009 that Lieberman created the YIC nonprofit program. Through that program, he and his students would produce the annual music festival.
In 2018, Lieberman found that the program was just too big to be connected with one high school. That’s when Kirsten Fitzpatrick, who’s currently the YIC deputy director, came into the picture.
Fitzpatrick said she met Lieberman through a fellow graduate student of hers. When she learned about what Lieberman was doing, she was immediately interested.
“I have two kids on the spectrum,” she said. “I’m also on the spectrum. So, giving opportunities to individuals on the spectrum so they’re able to pursue actual careers and jobs they have a passion for, where they can make a livable wage, have benefits, maybe afford to purchase their own home — these were things that, to me, were huge, because there’s really nothing else out there like it.”
Fitzpatrick felt that most services for individuals with disabilities had been geared toward helping them with jobs in the retail or manufacturing worlds. The job options, she added, were just limited.
She recalled sitting down with Lieberman at her kitchen table and going over what the organization presently was and what it did, the history of it, where the funding was coming from and what the group could be.
“From that meeting,” she said, “we worked together to make it what it is today.”
Lieberman said that Fitzpatrick had the idea to focus YIC services on students who’d already finished high school. She’d identified that there weren’t many services available to such individuals. That’s when they partnered with College of the Canyons, where Lieberman also teaches. At around that time, they also decided to redub their annual music event the Good Karma Arts and Music Festival.
YIC developed relationships with companies within the entertainment industry so that they could pair students with their passions, and they’ve since been trying to turn those passions into paychecks for students.
“Every day, we’re posting jobs and opportunities for our students, and it can be anything under that umbrella of the entertainment industry,” Lieberman said. “So, video games, visual effects, film, TV producing, graphic design, props, costumes, camera work, editing, graphic design, journalism, PR, marketing.”
In a release from YIC that calls on businesses to expand career opportunities for neurodiverse talent during April, which is World Autism Month, the organization stressed how they’ve seen firsthand how individuals on the autism spectrum can bring innovation, creativity and dedication to the workplace. Yet, despite their talents, the release stated, individuals with autism continue to face barriers to meaningful employment.
In addition to the work Lieberman does in the classroom, he also sits on the board of the Santa Clarita Mayor’s Committee, a group that seeks to empower employers to hire individuals with disabilities. He also hosts the “Breaking the Biz Podcast” series, in which he speaks with seasoned professionals in the entertainment business for their insights and advice to those trying to break in.
Ultimately, Lieberman said he’s very satisfied with all he’s been able to do.
“Both my parents worked in special education,” he said. “My dad was the director of special education services for the Hart district. My earliest, fondest memories were going to school with him on Saturdays when he was working and meeting the students, and it didn’t matter if a student was in a wheelchair or student was nonverbal. My dad taught me that you respect and treat everybody equally, and he really taught me empathy at a very early age. I just knew that I was able to communicate with students, and I found that connection with them.”
But Lieberman said he doesn’t do it on his own. He talked about how, when he works with YIC students, he stresses how they should strive to surround themselves with great talent, and that strong individuals will push each other to create powerful and meaningful work.
“You try to find individuals who have different skill sets and different abilities so that when you blend the salad together, it tastes better, everything works better,” he said. “Without the amazing team that we have, we wouldn’t be anything.”
Know any unsung heroes or people in the SCV with an interesting life story to tell? Email [email protected].
