Walter Zooi
Executive Director
Walter is an nonprofit organizational leader and arts entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience in program development, strategic planning, and implementing organizational change. Soon after he joined YMF, Walter drove a significant refocusing of the organization’s mission and structure, the goal of which was to bring music and media arts education to underrepresented communities. YMF now provides tuition-free music and media arts classes and workforce development programs to the communities of South Central Los Angeles at the YMF Center for Music and Creative Technologies, their new program facility in Historic South Central Los Angeles. YMF also brings year-long, weekly music programming to public schools in East and South Los Angeles, facilitates their Music Heals program, a healing-based, immersive music and media arts pathway program to the formerly gang involved, recently incarcerated men and women of Homeboy Industries.
Prior to YMF, Walter founded the South Pasadena Music Center and Conservatory, a community-based music school that taught over 10,000 students and employed over 100 teachers in its 14 year existence. As director of communications at the California Institute of the Arts he oversaw the branding and development communications program for both the Institute and the Roy and Edna Disney CalArts Theater (REDCAT) in the Walt Disney Concert Hall. He held a similar position with USC’s Thornton School of Music, where he was part of the development team that helped secure Flora L. Thornton’s $25 million naming gift to the school.
Walter is a board member of Street Symphony, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit that utilizes music to create opportunities for human connection to homeless residents of the Skid Row community.
Email: wzooi@ymf.org