Intentional or Accidental? Creating Powerful Organizational Culture
Picture this: In ten years, your traditional orchestra, with four decades of history, has morphed to include a rapidly expanding community social outreach component. From an initial pilot project, you now teach 1,100 children daily, in 10 locations, with 60... Read More →
Addressing Teacher-Student Racial Bias
In some instances, Sistema teachers are from a different race or ethnic background than their students and families. In the U.S. Sistema field, the racial disparities between faculty/staff and students/families are widely recognized as a challenge, and the issue of... 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 →
Price Hill Creative Community Festival Honored
U.S. Sistema programs, their students, and their founders win awards regularly for their accomplishments. Just recently one (Boston String Academy) was honored for contributions to the arts in Massachusetts; another (Josiah Quincy Orchestra Program) was recognized for music education by... Read More →
AMBASSADORS: Canadian Citizenship Ceremony
On February 24, OrKidstra was honoured to be part of the largest Citizenship Ceremony in Canadian sports history at the Canadian Tire Centre, hosted by the Ottawa Senators, in partnership with Canadian Immigration and Citizenship, Ottawa Tourism, and the Sens... Read More →
AMBASSADORS: Sistema New Brunswick Ends its Season with a Conga
From 22-24 March, the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra held its final concert of the 2018/19 season with performances in Moncton and Sackville. The Moncton concert featured the Troiselles, a trio of Acadian singers who worked with the orchestra and Les... Read More →
The Ambassadors’ Exchange, April 2019
Music Rises After Years of Oppression, by Timor Sultani (Sweden) 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,... Read More →
Social Change from Within: Learning Human Values Through Music
Social change, the primary objective of most El Sistema programs, is usually thought of as an external challenge. Addressing such challenges as poverty, violence, racism, inequitably funded schools, language barriers, and other familiar obstacles to success often involves outside foundations... Read More →
The Ambassadors’ Exchange, March 2019
Music and Mission: Bridging the Years through Music by Axelle Miel (Philippines) On 9 February, the Orchestra of the Filipino Youth (OFY), led by their conductor Joshua Dos Santos, performed a pre-Valentine’s Day concert titled “Musika at Misyon” (Music and... Read More →
OrKidstra Sings at Canada’s National Hockey Game
On Sunday, 24 February 2019, the Ottawa Canada’s National Hockey League team, the Senators, hosted a special citizenship ceremony, welcoming 186 new citizens from 39 countries into Canada in the largest citizenship ceremony in Canadian sports history. Once sworn in, these new citizens walked the... Read More →