Community
Music That Brings Our Community Together
The Santa Monica Symphony brings people together through the shared experience of live music. From free orchestral concerts to family programs, educational experiences, senior engagement, and community partnerships, SMS uses music to strengthen connection, expand access, and enrich life across the Westside.
Music for Every Stage of Life
The Santa Monica Symphony believes music belongs at every stage of life – from the earliest years through older adulthood.
SMS offers a growing continuum of programs that serve community members across generations: early childhood music experiences for babies, toddlers, and caregivers; educational programs that support student learning and creativity; music and wellness programs for adults; and specialized initiatives for individuals living with dementia and their caregivers.
Together, these programs make the Santa Monica Symphony more than a place people come for concerts. SMS is a lifelong cultural resource: an orchestra children grow up with, adults return to, families share across generations, and older community members rely on for connection and belonging.
A Welcoming Community Gathering Place
Each year, more than 5,000 people take part in Santa Monica Symphony concerts, community programs, civic events, and neighborhood-based experiences.
SMS is known as a place where people feel welcome, connected, and inspired – whether they are longtime classical music lovers or attending an orchestra concert for the first time. Our audiences reflect the rich diversity of the Westside and greater Los Angeles: families with children, students, older adults, civic leaders, community partners, and neighbors from many backgrounds and life experiences.
At its heart, the Symphony is a gathering place: a space where people come together to experience something beautiful, meaningful, and shared.
A Catalyst for Civic Connection
The Santa Monica Symphony is a trusted community partner, working with schools, libraries, senior centers, healthcare providers, community organizations, local businesses, civic leaders, and cultural institutions.
Through these partnerships, SMS uses music to address real community needs: isolation, disconnection, barriers to arts access, the need for family-friendly cultural experiences, and the human desire for meaningful reasons to gather.
For families, the Symphony offers opportunities for children to grow up with creativity, empathy, beauty, and wonder. For adults, it provides space for reflection, connection, and civic belonging. For older community members and caregivers, it offers moments of dignity, comfort, and shared joy.
And for everyone seeking an alternative to screen-centered culture and increasingly transactional social life, SMS offers something rare and essential: a live, shared cultural experience that cannot be downloaded or streamed.
The Santa Monica Symphony helps build a more connected, humane, and culturally vibrant community – one where music brings people together and reminds us what it means to belong.
Community Programs
Early Childhood Music Experiences
Music experiences for babies, toddlers, and caregivers that support bonding, creativity, and early development.
Chair-to-Chair Youth Rehearsals
Opportunities for students to try out instruments, sit alongside Symphony musicians, observe the rehearsal process, and experience orchestral music from the inside.
Music and Wellness
Programs that use live music to support reflection, connection, emotional well-being, and community care.
Music for Memory and Caregivers
Specialized musical experiences for individuals living with dementia and the caregivers who support them.
Senior Center and Community Concerts
Small-ensemble performances that bring music directly into neighborhood and community settings.
