About

The Urban Voices Project (UVP) Choir is composed of artists and performers from the Skid Row neighborhood in Downtown Los Angeles, currently or formerly disenfranchised by the condition of homelessness. Throughout the year, they share music and its healing power with many audiences inside and outside the neighborhood of Skid Row. Through UVP Choir’s outreach, the group shares the stories and the successes of integrating music and community singing into a holistic system for combating the homelessness crisis. Founded by Colburn School Teaching Artist Leeav Sofer, who is recognized in the Los Angeles Jewish Journal’s “30 under 30,” directs the choir and UVP programs. His co-founder, Christopher Mack, also known as “The Urban Sage,” is a singing community outreach coordinator who has been walking the streets of Skid Row for Wesley Health Centers for the past 14 years. Kate Richards Geller, a music therapy consultant, advises the project and offers a strong foundation in healing and wellness across the organization. UVP has been recognized on the front page of the Los Angeles Times, NBC network’s Today Show and Dateline special and was featured on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered. The choir has had the privilege to collaborate with many partners, including Street Symphony and its Annual Messiah Project, singing shoulder-to-shoulder with Los Angeles Master Chorale singers, accompanied by the LA Phil musicians.  

For more information, visit urbanvoicesproject.org