The improvisational entrepreneur: David Dove brings music to at-risk kids through Nameless Sound

What's the point of music — the arts in general — if you can't share it? That's David Dove's inspiration and the modus operandi behind his Houston-based nonprofit Nameless Sound.

Nameless Sound emerged from Dove's own volunteer commitments with other local arts community service organizations, growing organically as he developed a different way to reach children through creative activities.

"I am like an improvisational entrepreneur," Dove told videographers John Carrithers and Douglas Newman in the latest installment of Profiles of Innovation, a CultureMap series that highlights Houston entrepreneurs.

 "We are doing music workshops with kids based on creativity, diversity and improvisation," Dove explained. "And we see hundreds of kids every week in homeless shelters, refugee communities and schools." 

To some, Nameless Sound is recognized for presenting forward-thinking concerts ranging from avant garde jazz to electro acoustic music. Hosting major players of the genre like Keith Rowe, Kjell Bjorgeengen and Pauline Oliveros, Dove has plenty of aesthetic inspiration for his own artistic development. 

But entrenched in the organization's core is a strong music education program that was developed out of Dove's experience. Examining what worked and what was lacking in his own musical upbringing, Nameless Sound came to implement a program that Dove says could only happen in Houston. It's rooted in the city's interest in sophisticated arts, the real stuff. 

"We are doing music workshops with kids based on creativity, diversity and improvisation," Dove explained. "And we see hundreds of kids every week in homeless shelters, refugee communities and schools."

It's not about teaching children to become musicians, to follow in the footsteps of improvisational jazz. Nameless Sound wants to incite students of music to apply what they have learned to other areas of life. 

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