Join the Sunset Community Band to celebrate music and joy
Sunset Community Band volunteer leaders Nina Strachan, Alex Strachan, and Allyson Ward.
By Supervisor Joel Engardio
Join the all-ages Sunset Community Band. Our newly formed band will perform at special holiday events, Sunset Night Market, Great Highway Park on weekends, and march in San Francisco’s LGBTQ Pride and Lunar New Year parades to bring joy and display Sunset pride.
Meet the Sunset Community Band. These are the first volunteer members of the band. Join us!
Seeking band players
We are looking for musicians of all ages and kinds (woodwind, brass, percussion, strings). We hope to put together a seated band (wind band or orchestra) and a band that can march at special parade events.
Sign up here.
Seeking non-playing volunteers
If you don’t play an instrument, you can still be involved! We need volunteers who are music lovers to help with marketing, fundraising, and administration. Maybe someone to design uniforms or choreograph some dance moves.
Sign up here.
Inspiration for the band
After creating the first-ever Sunset Night Market, I thought we also needed a Sunset Community Band to play at special events to celebrate everything that makes the Sunset so great.
Starting things that haven’t happened before can be difficult but they’re worth trying when they promise to bring a lot of joy to people. I put my vision for a Sunset Community Band in my supervisor newsletter and asked if any musicians wanted to volunteer to lead it.
Sunset residents Nina and Alex Strachan stepped up. Then Allyson Ward joined the leadership team.
My initial idea for the Sunset Community Band was to have students from Sunset middle and high schools march together under every school banner. Then we decided to make it an all-ages band for the entire Sunset community. Students can find mentors and seniors can find purpose.
Band leaders
Nina Strachan plays the saxophone and flute and has marching band experience. Her husband Alex Strachan is the principal horn and assistant conductor for the Oakland Civic Orchestra. Allyson Ward is a public school music educator.
"Having played in all sorts of bands during my childhood and college, I really miss it in my adult life,” Nina says. “I hope to bring this band to all the other musical folks who are missing this community just as much as I am.”
“Community building is more important than ever and I’m excited to help bring the sunset musical community together,” Alex says.
“I want to create a welcoming environment for young musicians where they feel like they can explore music instead of feeling like they need to stay in a box,” Allyson says.
“I played the coronet in my public school band in 6th to 9th grades,” says Supervisor Joel Engardio. “I still have the coronet. I might just try to play it again so I can also be in the Sunset Community Band!”
Supervisor Joel Engardio in the 7th grade and today with the same coronet.