Sounds Like LA* is a non-profit organization founded in 2012 to meet the needs of Santa Monica’s Pico Neighborhood, an under-resourced, predominantly Latinx community.
It has since expanded to comprise multiple programs in the cities of Santa Monica and Los Angeles, the majority of which provide world music education to underprivileged and underrepresented communities.
Sounds Like LA is intimately informed by the life experience of its Executive Director, Shabnam “Shab” Fasa.
“Growing up as an Iranian refugee in Denmark,” writes Shab, “I found acceptance and opportunity as a violinist in a local youth orchestra. But I also encountered resistance to exploring and expressing my own cultural heritage.”
“Sounds Like LA builds upon the positive, inclusionary aspects of those childhood musical experiences while discarding the negative, exclusionary ones.”
In her decade at Sounds Like LA’s helm, Shab has transformed our organization from a single “orchestra” into a 501(c)3 that collaborates with multiple education-related entities, employing 16-teaching artists and serving 500+ young people per year.
Moving forward, Shab and her team envision expanding beyond the Westside, collaborating with educational and cultural organizations across LA to build diverse, prosperous communities.
*Sounds Like LA was originally called Sound Awareness Initiative. It is most widely known as Santa Monica Youth Orchestra (SMYO). We hope our current name more accurately reflects the mission and scope of our organization.
