With the support of the California Arts Council, SANTA MONICA YOUTH ORCHESTRA will develop a tuition-free, bilingual Mariachi music program at Braddock Elementary, a Title I school in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). The program will provide weekly classes to 200 under-resourced students, particularly those identifying as Mexican-American.
SLLA is a musical community where children of all backgrounds can come together and play music in a safe environment. As the only free youth program offered on Sundays at Virginia Avenue Park, we provide educational programming and structured activities for young people in a supportive setting. Our cornerstone program, Sundays with SMYO, runs for 30 weeks of the year, bringing together approximately 75 students and 5 professional music teachers for weekly orchestra and choir rehearsals on Sunday afternoons. Our Opus World Music Camp is a 3-week full day summer camp that gives our students an opportunity to expand their musical horizons by studying the music and instruments of various cultures. SLLA also spearheads the SMMUSD Middle School Mariachi Program, which includes approximately 65 young musicians. Our instructors teach all aspects of mariachi music and performance, but foster a passion of mariachi that is passed along to the students.

