For the last 15 years, Judy Halstead has been busy making sure the arts remain at the forefront of local culture as a member of the Lodi Community Concert Association’s board of directors.
During that time, she has helped bring a number of musical acts to the area, from Grammy award-winning vocal ensemble Chanticleer to local high school jazz bands.
On Wednesday, the Lodi City Council recognized her efforts in leading the LCCA board as its president for the last 11 years, naming her the 2026 Women in the Arts Honoree.
A proclamation read in her honor Wednesday said that through her leadership, the LCCA has continued to provide high quality, affordable and diverse musical performances at Hut chins Street Square.
In addition, the association has also been able to enrich Lodi’s cultural landscape with offerings spanning classical, Broadway, folk and country, among other musical genres.
“Judith Halstead has championed arts education and youth engagement by supporting annual student concert programs that bring live musical performances to approximately 800 fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade students from Lodi schools, as well as supporting performing arts scholarships for graduating high school seniors pursuing higher education in the arts,” the proclamation read. “Her commitment to community partnership building has strengthened connections between the arts and local service organizations, schools, historical institutions, and community groups, ensuring the arts remain accessible, relevant, and resilient, even during periods of significant challenge.”
In accepting the honor Wednesday, Halstead noted several milestones the LCCA had achieved over its 80 years in existence.
Community concert associations, she said, began forming in 1927, with Lodi’s holding its first event in 1946.
“With five concerts a year, we will have soon provided 400 affordable, wonderful music presentations to people in the Lodi area,” she said. “Our board of directors is comprised of 18 people, and their combined years of community service add up to 325 years.”
Just last Thursday, Halstead said, some 55 Bear Creek High School musicians performed with saxophonist Ron Verdi, a staple of Malacca’s concert series.
The next morning, Verdi performed for 750 elementary school students, Halstead added.
She also noted that Chanticleer first performed in Lodi in 1986, several years before the group won its first Grammy, and will be returning to Hutchins Street Square on May 2 as part of the LCCA’s concert series.
Through the years, LCCA concerts have featured not only professional musicians talent, but also local musicians including the Lodi Community Band, Sayla Music Academy and local high school musicians.
The association has also awarded scholarships to graduating high school seniors each year who plan to continue in the performing arts in higher education.
In the nomination packet submitted to Lodi Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services, Halstead said she was “simply the speaker” and current head of the LCCA’s board of directors.
It was the board, she said, who should be the nominee, and it is everyone involved with the association that selects performers and scholarship recipients, promotes youth participation, makes financial decisions, scrutinizes contracts, and has given all the care needed to keep Lodi Community Concert Association thriving for the past 79 years.
In accepting the honor from the council Wednesday night, Halstead encouraged the community to continue supporting the arts in Lodi.
“Whether its visual, musical, plays or speech, support the arts in Lodi because the mission is instilling (arts) in young children,” she said. “And we’re trying to do that. You do that too. Bring them to a concert.”
