Pick Up Stix founder Charles Zhang created nonprofit O.C. Music & Dance to provide musical arts education and training to children, regardless of their family’s ability to pay.
Its 21,000-square-foot facility in Irvine was scheduled to open Saturday with practice rooms, classrooms, studio space for recording and dance, and a 140-seat theater.
Offerings include private and group lessons in a variety of instruments, including string, wind and piano; dance programs including Chinese heritage dances; voice training; musical theory and composition; and training and experience in music recording.
Zhang started fast-casual Chinese food chain Pick Up Stix in 1989 and sold it in 2001 for $50 million to TGI Friday’s parent company, Carlson Restaurants Worldwide. Carlson sold it in 2010 to Sherman Oaks-based West Coast Capital and Mandarin Holdings, a Bloomington, Minn.-based company that now runs three Chinese food concepts in different U.S. regions.
—Deirdre Newman
