About · Our mission
Access to music.
Room to understand it.
The Listening Project enriches lives and strengthens Southwest Florida communities through accessible music programs, cultural preservation, and shared storytelling that foster connection, curiosity, calm, and creativity.
We’re developing welcoming programs for people of different ages, backgrounds and musical experience in Southwest Florida. A song, a story or a creative experiment can give us something to explore together.
Our vision is for shared learning through music to become a familiar part of life in Southwest Florida. Affordable participation, thoughtful access and collaboration with local hosts will help us get there.
Read the founder’s letterWhy music
A shared human practice.
A personal way to connect.
Music gives us something to share before we know one another’s stories. Its reach across cultures, its emotional meaning and the experience of making it together make it a compelling starting point for our work.
Across cultures
315 societies. Music in every one.
A 2019 study documented music in all 315 societies examined, using ethnographic records and additional sources. Its closer analysis of song in 60 societies found recurring uses, including dance and infant care.
Mehr et al., Science, 2019 · Research explained by Yale’s HRAF
Beyond familiar words
Some meaning travels with the sound.
In the same research, 29,357 online listeners identified the context of unfamiliar songs—such as dancing or soothing a baby—better than chance. Shared musical cues can reach across differences in language and culture.
Coming together
Music can help break the ice.
A seven-month study found that adults in new singing classes felt closer to their group sooner than those in crafts or creative writing classes. The other groups caught up over time; singing offered an early route into belonging.
That is the opportunity we want to build on: music as common ground, with room for different meanings. We bring listening, cultural context, conversation and making into programs that invite connection, curiosity, calm and creativity. You can arrive with a favorite record, a question or simply the wish to try something new.
Why more reasons to be together matter
We want more welcoming places to meet, share stories and enjoy music together—across ages, backgrounds and levels of musical experience.
Our response is practical: welcoming hosts, ways to take part on your own, opportunities for different generations to meet and time to stay with the music and one another. We’ll develop concepts with collaborators, test them through pilots and use what participants tell us to shape what comes next.
Our values
What guides the work.
Connection, curiosity, calm, and creativity guide every program. A concept can support more than one value, whatever its format or media.
Connection
Make it easier to meet, listen and find common ground across ages and experiences.
The LoungeCuriosity
Follow the music into new stories, perspectives and questions. Leave room for discovery.
The LibraryCalm
Make room to slow down, settle into the music, and find moments of rest, reflection, and renewal.
The RetreatCreativity
Give people tools, encouragement and room to make something of their own.
The WorkshopMovement and physical activity may become a future strand. These values describe our approach; the four program formats describe ways to take part.
Explore the offeringsPeople
Who’s behind it.
Kyle Rich
Founder and President
Audio engineer, production and technology director and lifelong listener, with more than a decade building nonprofit programs and the systems behind them in Southwest Florida.
Founding board
Forming now
We’re recruiting directors with experience in finance, law, education, hospitality and community relationships. Most directors will be independent. Names will be listed here as they’re seated.
Program collaborators
By invitation
Educators, engineers, writers, collectors and artists who guide programs. Our first collaborators are being invited now and will be listed here as they confirm.
Advisors
By invitation
Our first advisors are being invited now and will be listed here as they confirm.
Questions
Common questions.
Do I need to know the music?
No. We give you a way into the work, whether it’s a lifelong favorite or your first encounter. Unfamiliar terms will be explained.
Can I come on my own?
Please do. Many people will. A host will greet you, and there are always seats facing the speakers for anyone who wants to simply listen.
What is the listening etiquette?
Each event will explain its format, length, and breaks. During focused listening, we’ll ask for quiet phones and no side conversations. There will be time to talk, and you can step out whenever you need to.
Will there be drinks?
We want hospitality to feel generous and easy. Refreshments will depend on the venue and the program, with alcohol-free choices always part of the plan. Some adult events may include alcohol served by the licensed venue; youth and family programs will have arrangements suited to them. Event details will make that clear.
Where will the pilots happen?
In welcoming partner spaces across Southwest Florida, with good sound and a reason to stay nearby before or after. Pilot dates and venues will be announced once confirmed.
Is it accessible?
Every listing will describe step-free access, seating, restrooms and volume. Earplugs and large-print cards will be available. Read our access and conduct commitments.
What if I’m sensitive to loud sound or darkness?
Every listing will give sound levels and lighting in advance, especially for Retreat events. You can sit near an exit, bring ear protection or step out at any time.
Is this music therapy?
No. Our programs are educational and community programming, not mental-health treatment or clinical music therapy. Read how we approach well-being.
How we work
Room for another perspective.
- Respect the work. Credit its makers and sources. Give cultural history its proper context, including the parts that are difficult to discuss.
- Stay open. A documented fact and a personal interpretation each have a place. No one needs to share the same taste or worldview to take part.
- Make people welcome. Explain unfamiliar ideas plainly. Make it comfortable to attend alone, to ask a question, or to listen quietly.
- Care for what’s entrusted to us. Pay attention to the people doing the work, the resources supporting it, and what participants tell us.
Well-being
Sometimes a song finds the words.
Music can hold experiences we struggle to explain. That personal relationship with listening is part of why this project exists, and why we want reflection and well-being to have a thoughtful place in its programs.
We’re inviting licensed counselors and qualified music-therapy professionals to help develop evidence-informed approaches, including trauma-informed facilitation. Participation should never require sharing a personal story.
Our current work is educational and community programming, not mental-health treatment or clinical music therapy.
Collaborate on well-being programming See the RetreatRoadmap
What comes next.
Explore the strategic plan, the roadmap and the evidence that will guide our next steps. A permanent home remains a future vision.
Read the strategic plan See the roadmap