From the vibrant, growing Hispanic population of Dayton, the interest of Daytonians in Latin-American culture, and a love of music that brings people together, the Dayton Salsa Project (DSP) was born. Founded in August 2018 by local musicians, half Dayton-born with the rest hailing from Puerto Rico, Colombia, and Peru.

The mission of the Dayton Salsa Project is to use music as the means to break barriers and promote inclusion by showcasing how musicians from diverse traditions and cultural backgrounds can get together in one accord. We aim to become ambassadors of Dayton’s diverse community, modeling the values of cultural diversity and inclusion, and sharing the rich history of Salsa at local, state, and national cultural events. Many of us played in other bands that would perform in neighboring large cities like Columbus and Cincinnati only to meet people from Dayton who traveled in search of Salsa music and dancing. It only made sense to make Dayton our official band hometown where we can celebrate the diversity and musicality of Salsa by performing popular classics from the 1970’s and 80’s.