El Sistema Links

El Sistema is a publicly financed, voluntary sector, music-education program, founded in Venezuela in 1975 by Venezuelan educator, musician, and activist José Antonio Abreu.

It later adopted the motto "Music for Social Change."

El Sistema-inspired programs provide what the International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies describes as "free classical music education that promotes human opportunity and development for impoverished children."

By 2015, according to official figures, El Sistema included more than 400 music centers and 700,000 young musicians.

For programs in Canada visit: www.jonathangovias.com/canada/

For programs in the United States visit:  www.elsistemausa.org