Brass Hall By Judith Shabram
T
he measure of a man is not in what he has accomplished but how he accomplished it. For Norman Lucas—a man who sees a need then seeks the solution; the answer lies in the simple philosophy of putting others first. Norman, CEO of Elevated Minds Music Group, the owner of the Brass Hall music venue in Marble Falls, got his start serving others in New Orleans’ Lafitte Housing Project. He became part of a 19 member youth group called LYMAC, Lafitte Youth Making a Change. As a teen, he asked his counterparts, “How can we serve people in our own community?” Collectively, they decided to open a pizza restaurant since no local businesses would deliver to the residents of his housing development.
LYMAC worked to receive a mayoral economic development grant and open the restaurant across the street from the housing development. The group also secured a contract from the New Orleans Housing Authority to paint the hallways of the development as part of a beautification project. His innate qualities for service and handling business won him the NFTE (National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship) national award for Entrepreneur of the Year at age 19 as he transitioned into the music field he remains in today. He always had a vision for a music company that would have the ability to handle everything in-house and to maximize the artists’ potential to maintain control of their projects. “I wanted to help them navigate the ins and outs of the industry,” Brass Hall continued on page 45 2022 Spring/Summer Page 43
