Community
Music Program
For Social Inclusion
El Sistema Greece is a community music project that provides free music education to children and young people in Greece. All students, regardless of nationality, language and religion, are offered free music education and the possibility to grow in an intercultural and open community, which welcomes diversity and fosters their communication skills, continuously stimulating their independent thinking and agency.
El Sistema Greece’s activities are open to all children: the lessons are open to Greeks, migrants and refugees.
Greece has welcomed thousands of refugees and immigrants in recent years, while its citizens were struggling to overcome a major economic crisis. Young people from both the Greek and the refugee community have been missing possibilities for good quality education and for inspirational development. The mission of El Sistema Greece is to contribute to the development of the personality of these children and to their social integration, offering them a sense of belonging and a new purpose. By means of free choir and orchestral classes to students with different backgrounds, it creates a diverse musical community, which stimulates the sociability of its members and opens new cultural horizons for them. If Music is a universal language and a powerful tool for social inclusion, music education has proven to be an effective method of social change, affecting not only children but also their families.
El Sistema Greece’s educational approach is based on the pioneering method of El Sistema Venezuela, the very first social program based on the collective practice of music, funded in 1975 by José Antonio Abreu and afterwards adopted by more than 70 countries around the world. Among other prizes and awards, El Sistema was recognized by UNICEF for its effectiveness in combating and preventing juvenile delinquency.
The educational model of El Sistema Greece seeks to educate and inspire, bringing together children and youth from different groups and aiming at their integration and social inclusion.
To date, more than 2,500 children and young people aged 5-26 have participated in the activities of El Sistema Greece.
Active Artists – Real Musicians
We combine group learning and artistic excellence. On stage, children are treated as artists who can develop their musical and social skills, challenge stereotypes and demonstrate in practice their worth as active members of a wider community.
El Sistema Greece’s students are often invited to perform in small and big concerts, on some of the most important stages of the country, something which contributes to the reinforcement of their self esteem and gives them professionalism and expertise. They have performed at the Herodion, at the Megaron Athens Concert Hall, at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center, at the Thessaloniki Concert Hall, at the Institut Francais de Grece, having collaborated with artists such as: Joyce Didonato, Il Pomo d’Oro, MOYSA, Yale Alumni Choir, ERT National Symphony Orchestra, the Venezuelan Brass ensemble just to name a few. Some of El Sistema Greece students have also had the opportunity to perform abroad, in the UK (Southbank Centre in London and Birmingham Conservatory), in France (Philharmonie de Paris and European Parliament in Strasbourg), in Sweden (Side by Side in Gothenburg), in Spain (Auditorio Nacional in Madrid) and Italy (Pesaro).