El Sistema

National Network of Youth and Children Orchestras of Venezuela
Formation1975
FounderJosé Antonio Abreu
Typenon-profit
PurposeMusic education
Location
WebsiteFESNOJIV official site

El Sistema (which translates to The System) is a publicly financed, voluntary sector, music-education program, founded in Venezuela in 1975 by Venezuelan educator, musician, and activist José Antonio Abreu.[1] 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."[2] El Sistema has inspired similar programmes in more than 60 other countries.[3] By 2015, according to official figures, El Sistema included more than 400 music centers and 700,000 young musicians. The original program in Venezuela involves four after-school hours of musical training and rehearsal each week, plus additional work on the weekends.[1]

The institution's closeness to the government has caused the perception that the institution and conductor Gustavo Dudamel serve as propaganda instruments of Maduro's government.[3] Several musicians of El Sistema participated in the antigovernment 2017 protests, and in response many were detained, tortured or killed.[4][5][6]

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  2. ^ Slevin
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