Sistema Aotearoa Grows in New Zealand
Since our inception in 2011, there have been many exciting developments over the years, and we now work with over 1000 children throughout the year at Sistema Aotearoa. Starting as an afterschool-only program, we have now developed into an in-school... Read More →
The Ambassadors’ Exchange, September 2019
My Summer with the NPO Seven Spirit Orchestra, by Axelle Miel (The Philippines) For the second half of summer I interned at NPO Seven Spirit, a Cebu-based non-profit organization that provides free classical music lessons to underprivileged children around the... Read More →
The Ambassadors’ Exchange, July 2019
Young Africa Works: Focus on Kenyan Youth, by Linet Othieno (Kenya) Towards the end of May, Ghetto Classics had a performance at the UN Assembly. The theme was Innovation for Better Quality of Life in Cities and Communities. This month we also had the... Read More →
The Jose De Piro Kabataan Orkestra Nurtures Citizens of the Community through Music in the Bataan Province of the Philippines
This past May, the authors traveled to the Philippines as part of their fieldwork assignment for the Global Leaders Program, an executive leadership program for musicians seeking to make social change through music. They spent one week in the Bataan... Read More →
The Ambassadors’ Exchange, June 2019
Teaching as Learning, by Luara Baqueiro (Brazil) I started playing double bass by chance, and thanks to my years of study at NEOJIBA, I have hope for a better future through music. I first felt this hope when I joined the... Read More →
El Sistema Hong Kong
El Sistema Hong Kong (ESHK) is a registered charitable institution that since 2017 has provided free-of-charge musical training to people of all ages in difficult social and economic conditions. The program is currently located in Tin Shui Wai and the... Read More →
The Ambassadors’ Exchange, May 2019
Artistic Youth Camps Across Kenya, by Linet Othieno (Kenya) Exciting things have been happening every day this month at Ghetto Classics. We had 4 two-week camps take place. First was the Ghetto Classics Mukuru kwa Ruben, a music program in Nairobi. The kids... Read More →
The 5th El Sistema Children’s Music Festival in Soma City
For the fifth year in a row, El Sistema Japan held its annual event, the Children’s Music Festival, in the Japanese city of Soma (in the Fukushima prefecture), where the Sistema-inspired Soma program for orchestra and chorus started seven years... Read More →
AMBASSADORS: Developing Resilience Despite Challenges
Who knew that classical music, a supposedly “elitist” genre, could find a home in the underprivileged outskirts of Cebu City? Ang Misyon Cebu holds weekly sessions at the community chapel. Since it is situated in a disadvantaged neighborhood, students face... Read More →
AMBASSADORS: Music Rises After Years of Oppression
After decades of darkness, light is coming to Kabul. Five years ago, Zohra Orchestra became Afghanistan’s first all-female orchestra, in a place where women’s rights were once destroyed by the Taliban. Zohra Orchestra, made up of students from the Afghan International Institute of... Read More →