Our Mission
Shelter Music Boston presents classical chamber music concerts, of the highest artistic standards, in homeless shelters and other sheltering environments. Our goal is to promote community, creative interaction, respect, and therapeutic benefit. We believe all people deserve access to the dignity, creativity, and passion of classical music whether or not they have a home.
Our Values
Quality
Shelter Music Boston is committed to employing professional musicians to bring music of the highest artistic quality to the sheltering environments we serve.
Consistency
Shelter Music Boston is committed to investing in the communities in which we perform by building relationships with the shelter guests, program clients, and site staff through our repeated visits.
Respect
We affirm the dignity and potential of all individuals. We believe all people should be treated with respect. This includes consistency, reliability, and professionalism in all our interactions.
Innovation
We are committed to positioning SMB as an innovative social service organization on all levels, from program delivery to operations to donor involvement to evaluating impact. We have a new vision for the classical music industry, in which live classical music is used broadly in our communities as a tool for change and the common good.
Our Impact
Following each concert we survey our audience. We have documented statistically significant mood improvement for our adult audience members. Additionally, partner staff report that shelters and other sites are calm during and after our concerts and that their guests and clients sleep better the nights of the performances.
Pine Street Inn–Stabilization audience member's survey comments from April 2025
Why Music?
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​Current research documents the positive effects of music on physical and mental health and supports its use as a complementary tool in social service delivery.
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Studies have shown that people exhibit empathy avoidance toward the homeless. Music has been proven to activate parts of the brain responsible for empathy and compassion.
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Art can embrace complexity of human experience that can remove stigma of people experiencing homelessness.
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For someone experiencing homelessness or in recovery, an interactive, respectful concert delivering the therapeutic power of classical music can provide hope, a sense of self-worth, and renewed energy to address the challenges of homelessness and recovery.
Moira, voice, Annegret, violin, Yonah, violin, Lizzy, cello, and Lysander, viola perform at Woods Mullen Shelter, May 2024