In the slums of Venezuela, where children are left unprotected against violence, drugs, and firearms, many end up joining criminal gangs simply to satisfy their hunger. These children live in the dark back alleys of society, without dreams or hope. For their sake, one man rolled up his sleeves and took action.
In an empty garage, he placed musical instruments in the hands of these children and began teaching them how to play. Thus in 1975, Dr. José Antonio Abreu, an economist and musician, founded what would become known as El Sistema. Today, El Sistema has grown into a nationwide youth music education program with over 200 centers across Venezuela.
Around 90% of the enrolled youth come from low-income families, and each child is given the opportunity to learn classical music for four hours a day, free of charge.
The goal of El Sistema is not to turn every child into a musician, but to protect them from falling into lives of crime and drug addiction. Many of the children who found dreams and hope through this program have grown up to become not only musicians, but also lawyers, teachers, doctors, and more. Every year, more than 15,000 of them return voluntarily to their hometowns to teach music to children living in situations just like their own once were.
“Through orchestra, children learn patience, cooperation, compassion, the value of community, and the meaning of life. Our motto is ‘To play and to fight.’ It means to fight against ourselves through music to become better people than we were before.” José Antonio Abreu