Found Sound Nation (FSN) is a nonprofit arts organization that uses music-making to bridge cultural and societal divides. For over a decade, FSN has partnered with the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and Bang on a Can to produce OneBeat, an internationally acclaimed exchange program for American and International musicians.
FSN began in 2007 as an initiative led by Christopher Marianetti and Jeremy Thal after they met at the Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival at MASS MoCA. Originally a wing of Bang on a Can, the project started with music production and songwriting workshops in a single high school in the Bronx. FSN has since expanded into a global force for creative exchange, designing transformative music programs that have engaged communities on five continents and built a network of over 700 artists worldwide.
Rooted in a mission to empower artists and communities through collaborative music-making, FSN develops and produces initiatives spanning music education, community-building, performance presentation, and international cultural exchange. Over the past decade, FSN has worked with a diverse array of institutions and partners, including Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute, Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art, TED, MIT, The New School, and many more. Some of FSN’s past projects include: Street Studios at music festivals in Zimbabwe, Switzerland, and NYC, and in dozens of cities around the globe – transforming public spaces into collaborative recording hubs; Music production workshops with incarcerated youth in the Bronx and Brooklyn; Documenting youth music movements in Indonesia; Developing a film scoring curriculum in Haiti; Amplifying youth-led initiatives in New Orleans; Remixing meditation lessons in India, and more. From city streets to remote villages, FSN continues to redefine the role of music in fostering social change, creating spaces where creativity transcends borders and empowers individuals to tell their stories through sound.