12 years ago today, October 17, 2011, Austin Soundwaves was founded on the idea that all students deserve opportunities for equitable arts education in Austin, Central Texas, and beyond. Here we share photos from our press conference in October 2011 of our founding board president, the late Dr. Teresa Lozano Long, and employee #1 and current executive director, Patrick Slevin.

Also pictured above from that day are sisters Maria and Monica with their mother - these two violinists were part of the original 42 students at our first school site, East Austin College Prep. They grew up in the program throughout middle and high school, both eventually graduating from UT-Austin with undergraduate and graduate degrees in social work.

Since our humble beginnings, we have served over 4,200 students at more than 38 schools across the city of Austin. We count a 100% graduation rate from high school since our first graduating class in 2016, many of whom attending colleges and universities throughout Texas and the United States, including UT-Austin, Duke University, Texas A&M, Sacramento State University, Texas State University, George Mason University, Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of Southern California.

This past year alone, we served more than 1,100 students across 23 school partnerships and programs in grades K-12. Our program staff and teaching artists worked directly with students in orchestra, band, mariachi, and creative youth development programs like the Draylen Mason Fellows Program.

There are too many people to remember, memorialize, uplift, call out, and celebrate so we'll just say THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts. On behalf of the entire organization, we are grateful for each and every one of you.

And you better believe we're just getting started - here's to the next 12 years!

Founding Day 2023