Meet Bets Charmelus, CEO of Artist Year

Betsaleel - or 'Bets' - Charmelus is the CEO of Artist Year, an AmeriCorps program for the arts, which places young musicians, artists, and writers in schools for a year of service in states across the country.

Bets talks about how music and storytelling inform his work.

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"We truly believe that exposure to creativity and creative engagement is the key to the growth of the students, to their sense of belonging, to their sense of self-efficacy, to their sense of motivation." - Betsaleel Charmelus​

Bets became CEO of Artist Year in July of 2023, after serving as National Program Director, and Director of the Philadelphia Chapter.  He brings to his work in Artist Year a varied background in performing and producing music, navigating the corporate world, and using music to help heal survivors of trauma.

Born in New York City to parents who were Haitian immigrants, Bets moved with his family to Philadelphia when he was 9.  He's been immersed in music from an early age: in church, studying piano as a young child, playing bass in his high school jazz band. 

Graduating from Temple University with a degree in information, science and technology  he worked at Aramark for five years, before leaving to pursue music full-time with his band, Ill Fated Natives, where he wrote and performed music  about the black roots of rock and roll. An opportunity to teach music to people leaving the prison system led to training and certification for trauma-informed practice for teaching artists, and conducting workshops about using music and art to enhance people's lives  in a variety of settings.  All of these experiences, he says, were grounded in a tradition of connecting with people through stories. 

"I'd like to say I was a storyteller first. My perspective of community advocacy, of artistry, of musicianship and any other art discipline that I explore comes from that background, and is growing from the seeds of storytelling." ​​