October 20, 2023

Dear friend,

Thank you for celebrating our 12th anniversary this past week. Our small but mighty organization was founded October 17, 2011 on the belief that more opportunities to learn music are needed in our community. And more importantly that those opportunities are both accessible and equitable - truly we envision a world without barriers to music education. Beginning with a single school site and 42 students, Austin Soundwaves programming has reached more than 4,200 students of all ages both in school and throughout the larger Austin community.

There are so many meaningful and impactful stories to share from the 2022-23 academic year, but I hope you will allow me to share a select few.

We served more than 1,100 students through our 23 school partnerships and community programs. 89% of students in our Private Lesson Program met their individual playing goals and each of our school partners increased their educational equity score by an average of 10%. A special bravo to Austin Achieve Public Schools for achieving a 22% increase to their educational equity score.
We completed a second full year of our Private Lesson Program (PLP), enabling 73 students to receive full-scholarship private music lessons and performance opportunities. PLP students have achieved a 100% graduation rate and are studying at colleges and universities throughout the country.
The Austin Soundwaves Festival Series reached a record number of 663 students, including an all-region concert at Huston-Tillotson University that featured over 90 students representing 14 Austin-area schools.
Finally, our beloved Draylen Mason Fellows Program (DMFP) marked the conclusion of its fifth cohort year, which addressed the theme, “We Choose Music, Not Violence.” We were once again honored to hold the annual DMFP capstone performance in the beautiful Draylen Mason Music Studio at KMFA.

So much of our success is attributed to our incredible staff, many of whom are locally trained products of the Butler School of Music at UT-Austin. Taking advantage of partnering with such a vibrant and rich arts community has been at the heart of Austin Soundwaves from the beginning.

I am grateful for you and the many partners that we proudly list on our website. On behalf of the students, staff, and board of Austin Soundwaves, thank you for being part of this community and for helping to create a world without barriers to music education.

Sincerely,

Patrick Slevin

Executive Director

Austin Soundwaves ANNUAL MEMO