Bruce hails from Southeastern Louisiana and has been involved in entertainment most of his life.  He is the father of three daughters: Kayla, Kristina and Kiara.

​

At age 15, he was accepted to The American Musical Theater program and The Young Americans.

​

At 17, he signed a recording contract with Rosemont Records in New Orleans and embarked on a summer concert tour, opening for such acts as Maynard Ferguson and Kool and The Gang.

He went on to perform and direct with The Young Americans in Southern CA and Atlanta, GA for several years before breaking out and starting his own entertainment company which produced shows at Disneyland, Knott’s Berry Farm and concert halls all over the West Coast.  For 5 years, Bruce co-wrote and produced over 20 original shows for Tibbies Music Hall, an award-winning dinner theater in Newport Beach.

​

Sampson has been an adviser for arts organizations (developing arts education curriculum), choreographed for a number of Southern California show choirs and has served as Associate Director for The Young Americans International Music Outreach Tours, In addition, he served as an adjunct professor at The Young Americans College of Performing Arts in Corona, CA.  

 

Sampson has directed and taught in England, Ireland, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Germany, Sweden, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Africa, China and all over the United States.

​

He has served as an adjudicator for talent and show choir competitions all over Southern CA, judged preliminaries for Miss Louisiana competitions, served on grant panels for the Greater Baton Rouge Arts Council, in addition to being a keynote speaker, guest instructor, radio host, and recipient of numerous awards and acknowledgements across the United States and internationally.

 

Bruce founded and produced Believe Performing Arts  Experience (camps and workshops for youth and adults that are designed to uplift young people and unite communities.)  He has produced these camps across several states as well as three cities in China.

​

Bruce has recently accepted the position of Performance Director with Rooted Arts Foundation in Southeast Louisiana where he will write and direct theatrical events.

​

Sampson has also been responsible for creating several community groups and initiatives.  He happily partners with organizations and companies that uplift youth and encourage unity and positive thinking/solutions.

Bruce Sampson

Originally from Bogalusa, Louisiana

​

​

College:Southern University at New Orleans
Degree: BA in Print Journalism/English​
 

Past News:​

July 2017 - Quite a bit has happened this year.

In the Spring, I directed the YA Spring 2017 Japan cast and the YA Spring 2017 U.S. cast for brief stints.

 

I served as director for most of The Young Americans' "World Tour".  I met up with the mostly alumni cast in Hong Kong and continued on with them for the next month and a half in Singapore and South Africa. Life changing! 

​

Afterward, I returned to Louisiana to begin preparations for BELIEVE Summer Camp Experience. We completed three successful camps and shows in Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida.

 

July 2016 - Completed our 2016 Believe Summer Camp Experience projects in Louisiana and Mississippi.  Roughly 100 students in MS and 150 in Louisiana took part in our 5-day arts camp and culminating show for the community. Over a thousand people enjoyed the shows. This year's theme was "INSPIRED" and featured some new elements which we hope to become staples in our camps going forward. July 1st, 2016 was declared "Believe Summer Camp Experience Day" in Washington parish Louisiana.  We were presented with a certificate of the official proclamation by Richard Thomas, President of Washington Parish.

 

March 2016 - Honored to be invited and included in The Young Americans/Japan 10-Year Anniversary Reunion and Arena event. I had the opportunity to teach and conduct over 200 YAs and over 1000 Japanese students and parents as part of this special workshop and concert which also marked the 5-year anniversary of the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

 

January - February, 2016 - traveled to China with a 6-person team of instructors to conduct a one-day Believe workshop and two week-long Believe camps.  We worked with students, teachers, administrators and parents.  Great experience and very successful.

During the visit, we also met many government officials, business people, and Chinese celebrities.  We spent most of our time in Shanghai and Nanchang.

 

January 4, 2016 -A busy Fall and Winter.

• Helped found the Washington Parish Community Arts Association in Louisiana.

• Hosted an event in Bogalusa where my long-term friend, Kenneth Morris (descendant fo Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington) gave powerful presentations to the community and Bogalusa High & Bogalusa Middle school students on human trafficking and personal empowerment.

• Along with my wife Jolene, I taught weekend perfomring arts workshops for youth over a 9-week period.

• Produced the first Believe Christmas Spectacular show featuring students and groups from all over Washignton parish.

• Flew back to CA to watch Kiara's directorial debut of The Young Americans New Kids show in La Mirada. Enjoyed connecting with friends and family during Thanksgiving and my birthday.

• Preparing to take a small team of instructors and directors to China to conduct Believe camps between Jan. 18th and Feb. 8th.

 

July 5, 2015 -This has been an incredibe year of opportunity and change.  Some of the highlights have included directing The Young Americans 2015 South Tour in Louisiana and Florida - getting to work with my youngest daughter on her final tour as a Young American.

 

Immediately following that, I produced an international Believe 2-Day Workshop in Corona, CA.  A dozen or more Chinese high school students worked with our directors and a grup of students from my ICON Afterschool program, taking performance classes and taking part in various events together as a part of cultural exchange.

 

Shortly therefater, we completed what may well be my final ICON Afterschool program and show with The Young Americans in Corona, CA.

 

We then sold our home  of 12 years in Eastvale, CA to move back to my childhood home in Bogalusa Louisiana.

Two weeks after driving across the country, we conducted two weeks of Believe Summer Camps in Bogalusa, LA and Gallman, MS.

 

Jolene secured a job as choir teacher at Bogalusa High School and will start in the Fall.

 

Jolene and I both judged the Miss Louisiana Northshore and Miss Louisiana Florida Patrishes pageant in Covington, LA.

 

Our camps in China were postponed due to visa issues.  But we are excited to be planning extensive camps in Shanghai and Beijing for early next year.

 

Next, my youngest flies back to CA to begin a new chapter in her life.  She will spend the first semester directing the New Kids 2015 for The Young Americans.  We look forward to flying out and watching her directorial debut in November.

 

August 26 2014 - Just completed an amazing and jam-packed summer!  My summer started with a two-week stint in Europe directing The Young Americans summer Europe tour. I returned to teh US just intime to kick off auditions for the 7th annual SOCAL ICON solo vocal competition.

 

Then it was off to Louisiana to produce two Believe Summer Camp Experience camps - in Bogalusa and Slidell respectively.  Both went incredibly well with over 130 participants in each week-long camp and show.  We have been asked to bring it back and make it an annual event.  plans are already in the works.

 

Then I participated as a judge in the Louisiana Florida Parishes USA and Louisiana Northshore USA pageants.  It was a new and thrilling experience for me. Next my wife, daughter Tina and I took a drive to Northern Michigan to see my youngest daughter, Kiara, perform at Boyne Highlands Young Americans Dinner Theater.  She was amazing and we all had a blast.

 

On the way back to Louisian, we drove through Detroit (visiting the Motown Museum) and Nashville(visiting The Grand ol Opry).  Educational and fun!

 

A businessman from China visited the Believe camps and shows in Louisiana and was so taken with it all that he asked me to come to China and visit three schools - doing one-day/one-man versions of the Beleieve camp. So that was my next stop!

 

I spent two weeks in China and completed three successful and exciting camps with some beautiful kids in Nanjing, Nachang and Shanghai. I got to tour a great deal of China and meet so many amazing people.  It was quite an education.  Now we have been asked to take the team to Nanjing and Shanghai in February 2015 to do full Believe camps.  If all goes well, we will do more camps in the summer.

 

Believe is turning out to be something bigger and more substantial than I planned.  Well, I'm preoared to take this as far and for as long as God wants me to.  this wil involve a great deal of change in my life, but I'm ready to take the journey.  Stay tuned! (For more info about Believe Camps, visit www.believecamp.com )

 

​

Mon Mar 31, 2014. BY MARCELLE HANEMANN The Daily News |

 

Bruce Sampson is coming home, and he’s bringing friends. And that means a rare opportunity for local students from the third through the 12th grade, especially those interested in the performing arts.

 

Sampson’s home is Bogalusa. He was born and raised in the city. Then he moved away and found success, and he’s coming back this summer to offer guidance, experience and a conduit to similar positive outcomes to children from his native community.

 

The entertainer, writer, director, producer, recording artist and educator is an associate director of the internationally acclaimed Young Americans. And that’s just a fraction of his resume. Sampson has rubbed shoulders with Broadway stars, Emmy winners and television personalities, and he wants to rub some of that success off on the children who know the same streets he did as a child.

 

Sampson is bringing his Believe Summer Camp Experience to Bogalusa High School July 7-11, and enrollment is now open. The camp will include five days of classes, activities and games that are led by industry professionals. Participants will be divided into three peer groups for most of the camp so that classes and activities can be age appropriate. They will learn songs, dance routines, skits and more that will ultimately be presented as a stage show for the community on Friday night.

 

Sampson said the idea of bringing the camp to Bogalusa was a natural. “I’ve been so blessed with opportunities to live out my dreams and to travel the world,” he said. “I’ve learned and grown so much, and I want to share that with my hometown.”

 

He had an epiphany while he was in Europe last summer directing the Young Americans Outreach Tour. “We were conducting a workshop at an all-male prison in the Netherlands,” Sampson said. “It was one of the roughest and most challenging experiences I’ve ever faced. Many of the YAs were in tears and ready to quit. But we found a way to get through to those men, and I saw real change happen in them in just two days. “It was then that I realized that I needed to do more personally to reach people… not just as part of the YA organization. And if I was going to do it, I was going to start with my hometown.”

 

Sampson said his schedule of traveling with the Young Americans and working on other projects in southern California has kept him from visiting Bogalusa as much as he would have liked. “This offers me a chance to come home, and reconnect with my community and pay forward everything that I’ve been taught and blessed to experience,” he said. “I’m honored and humbled by the support I’ve received so far and looking forward to contributing to Bogalusa’s centennial celebration through this project.”

 

Everyone he called, including Chad Harry at BHS and the instructors from Los Angeles, Hollywood and Las Vegas he’s bringing for the camp, responded with encouraging enthusiasm, Sampson said. “I’m also really excited that two other YAs from Washington Parish will be joining the team this summer,” he said. “Kate James, who toured with the YAs, and Annie Gambino, currently on tour with the YAs in the United Kingdom, will both be on hand to help teach the camp and participate in the culminating show. Even Shauna Pierce, who was accepted to the Young Americans back in 1979 with me, is coming back from Germany to help out.”

 

Camp classes will take place from 8 a.m. to 3:30 pm Monday through Friday, with a lunch break around noon each day. The culminating stage show will be open to the community and will start at 7 p.m. Friday. In an effort to make attendance affordable for all kids, the registration fee is $10 per day or $50 for the week for those who register by May 15.

 

“The show I’ve written especially for this is called, ‘Believe: Live-Laugh-Love,’ and will have a variety of styles of music, dance and acting throughout,” Sampson said. “It’s going to be a fast-paced week of singing, dancing, acting, laughing and fun for everyone.” The camp covers beginning to advanced levels and is not dependent on experience or particular talent, he said. “I’m planning and hoping that we get 300 or more kids from all over Washington Parish,” Sampson said. “It doesn’t matter if you’ve never sung, dance or acted before. It’s going to be so much fun, and you’ll learn to do things you didn’t know you could do before. Whatever your current experience or talent, we aim to take you the next level.”

 

His goal is to make the camp a community affair. “This camp and the show are a celebration of youth, music and community,” Sampson said. “I’m hoping that local businesses and churches will get on board to help out, sponsor kids and sponsor the project through donations of services, products and money. “I’m also hoping to mentor to young local talent, as we are asking college-aged singers and dancers to join our team as camp counselors. “This will give them an opportunity to work closely with some talented professionals and give back to their own community in the process.”

 

For additional information or to register, visit www.believe.iconarts. org.

 

November 2013 - I just returned from directing the last few weeks of the YA Europe Fall 2013 Tour. I have to say that this trip was one of my most memorable exeriences as a dirctor and human being (second only to the experience in Japan during the 2011 Earthquake and Tsunami.)

Traveled to The Netherlands for the first time and experienced my first prison workshop. I learned so much and met people who have changed me forever. I have autographed tousands ad thousands of workshop shirts over the years, but this was the first time that I asked for autographs from the people who took the workshop.  I don't want to ever forget this experience.

 

October 2013 - I just returned from three weeks directing The Young Americans in their Fall 2013 US Music Outreach Tour. I had the blessing of sharing time with my youngest daughter, Kiara Sampson. It was a new show that travelled to Minnesota, Wisconisn, Illinois and Michigan.  Finally got to spend some time in Chicago (instead of the usual airport layovers) and got to see some old friends that I performed with in my young YA days. Enjoying a few weeks off at home with my wife and other two daughters before departing to direct the last few weeks of the YA Europe Fall 2013 Tour.

 

August 2013 - I just returned from three weeks in Japan directing workshops and shows wth The Young Americans, where I worked with my youngest daughter, Kiara Sampson.

Had some incredible experiences including a week of camp at Mt. Fuji with over 200 Japanese teenagers! Life-changing events!

Now, I'm back in CA and in the process of producing the 6th year of SOCAL ICON vocal competition.  Final Concert event coming up on August 31st!

 

July 2013 - I just returned from two weeks in Germany directing workshops and shows wth The Young Americans, where I had an oportunity to direct two YAs whose parents I performed with back in my YA days!  I also got to work with a young lady from Bogalusa (my hometown in Louisana).  Just two years ago, she took a workshop in Slidell with us and auditioned for me. Incredible time! Now, I'm in the process of producing the 6th year of SOCAL ICON vocal competition.  Semifinals coming up on July 27th!

 

August 2012 - I accepted a new role with The Young Americans College of the Performing Arts (in association with North Central Michigan College) as adjunct professor.  I will be teaching English Composition 101 and 102 for the foreseeable future. 

​Feb. 11, 2012 - While directing The Young Americans on their South Tour; I was surprised with the honor of being given the key to the city of my hometown, Bogalusa Louisiana and pronounced Feb. 11th as "Bruce Sampson Day". Thanks to Chad Harry for making that happen. Humbled and appreciative; though completely unworthy.

March 2011 - Life-changing experience in Japan.  I was directing the Young Americans Spring Tour when the 9.0 earthquake struck Japan; resulting in a subsequent tsunami and nuclear plant disaster.
For over one week, the cast and I stayed in Japan (first in Narita and then down to Yoyogi) until we could finally arrange the get the entire cast back to the United States.
The day-to-day uncertainty and the hourly quakes and aftershocks were stressful but it was the generosity and unwavering love and concern of the Japanese people that had the biggest impact on me.  In the midst of a huge natural, national disaster; these beautiful people were more concerned with taking care of us and seeing to our safety and needs.
I will never forget the kindness, honor and grace with which they conducted themselves.  It will serve as a reminder to me of how far I have to go and grow.
I cannot wait to return to my see my friends and extended family in Japan! My prayers continue for them all.

​
2010 and Older
Sampson recently returned from directing three Young Americans tours beginning in January.
· January 2010: The U.K. Tour
· February 2010: Nebraska/Midwest Tour
· March 2010: Japan Tour and Concert Series
 Bruce had the opportunity to direct and work with his two oldest daughters (Kayla and Kristina) as part of these tours as well.
In June 2010,

​

Bruce’s WBZB Entertainment launched OC ICON 2010 (formerly called OC Idol).  OC ICON is an annual solo vocal competition for kids ages 7-18 and based in Southern CA. Four qualifying auditions are held in different locations in Southern CA. Roughly 500-1000 kids audition in the preliminary round.  225 go on to the Semi-finals round and 30 finalists participate in the final concert competition which is judged by celebrity judges and entertainment veterans. Some of our past judges included:  Olympic gymnast and Emmy Award winning actress, Cathy Rigby and television producer and creator of “Desperate Housewives”, Marc Cherry,  Mark L. Walberg (host of Fox TV’s “The Moment of Truth”) and Greg Phillinganes (award-winning producer and musician—Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” and Stevie Wonder’s “Songs in the Key of Life”).

December 2009— “Holiday Hijinks!” musical variety show performances in Corona, CA.  Bruce wrote and directed this holiday extravaganza at The Historic Corona Civic Center Theater with a talented cast of  35 performers!
 

January 2009—Bruce renewed his long-time association with The Young Americans by becoming an Associate Director for the group in January. Bruce directed the 3 weeks of their 2009 South U.S. Tour (Music Outreach) and two weeks of their West Coast U.S. Tour.