Zawaya’s core programs are (1) Aswat Ensemble, a multi-ethnic, multicultural, and multi-generational music ensemble and choir that reaches out to the diverse Bay Area community with folkloric, classical, and contemporary Arabic music; educates members on the Arabic music scale, specific Arabic music genres, repertoires, and instruments; and compensates any participating professional instrumentalists and vocalists who perform at Zawaya’s productions and guest performances for local community events.
2) Aswat Youth, a space for Arab/SWANA (Southwest AsianandNorthAfrican) kids to explore their identity and connect to their culture in a community of like-cultured peers through learning Arabic singing, dance, and instruments; helping to bridge the gap between Arab cultural heritage and life in America while developing Arabic musical and aural skills.
3) Aswat Women’s Ensemble, a group for women, in the male-dominated field of Arabic music, to have a space to connect, collaborate, and expand their music knowledge and skill among other women including presenting what they have learned through concerts and community performances.

Zawaya’s core services are to educate about, promote, produce, and preserve Arab arts and culture by (1) representing Arabic music and culture in the Bay Area; (2) providing ArabAmericans a space to connect with their culture and identity; (3) preserving and producing music from a wide variety of Arab countries,especially those endangered by war; (4) empowering women within Arab arts, historically excluded from public instrumental performance; (5) Collaborating with artists from local Arab communities enduring hardship, whether from the Muslim ban, (which prompted concerts on the music of the seven Arab countries banned from the USA, 2017-2019), or upheaval in their countries of origin; (6) Collaborating with communities of color (Black,Indigenous,Latinx,andAsian) in musical and artistic expressions of resistance and solidarity in the face of injustice; (6) involving youth (ages 5-13) in arts and cultural education and performance through AswatYouth.