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Photo Credit: © Sistema Toronto

El Sistema USA® supports a
nationwide alliance of
El Sistema-inspired organizations.

El Sistema USA stands for musical excellence and equity.

El Sistema USA connects itself to and invests in developing the change-makers in the lives of young people. El Sistema USA has 140 Member Organizations that serve over 25,000 students, supporting more than 6,000 Teaching Artists across 35 states! We support our member organizations, administrators, teaching artists, and students through professional development, youth leadership, an annual National Symposium, regional gatherings, partner discounts & scholarships, consulting, evaluation & data resources, and more.

Mission:

El Sistema USA supports a nationwide movement of programs inspired by El Sistema to effect social change through music for children.

Vision:

El Sistema USA is a national voice for the intersection of excellence and equity in music education, with a focus on student agency and voice. We are a central resource and dialogue space for music teaching artists, organizations, researchers, educators, policy makers and funders to understand this intersection.

Our Core Values

Equity

We believe all kids have the right to reach their full potential.

Empowerment

We are committed to helping organizations deliver on this promise.

Excellence

We hold ourselves, our member organizations, and our educational values to the highest standards.

Impact

We measure the impact of our work and consistently drive to improve.

Sustainability

We are committed to sustaining this work, by strengthening our movement and our member organizations.

Joy

We believe in strengthening the spirit in all that we do.

Community

We encourage collaboration and community building at all levels of our organization.

If you support our Mission, Vision, and Core Values, please consider becoming a Member of El Sistema USA® today!

What Our Members Are Saying

“I believe [Youth Leadership] is important for students to connect and collaborate with like-minded students as a constant reminder that we are not alone in our struggles and they will hopefully have the opportunity to experience joy and try new things.”

ESUSA 2023 High School Youth Ambassador

“El Sistema USA has provided vital assistance to me as a Teaching Artist and Program Director at a lean-and-mean El Sistema Inspired Program in the greater Washington, DC area. At Regional Gatherings, National Symposiums, and virtual forums, I glean countless practical tools and inspirational takeaways that refresh my vision for my program’s path forward, and I meet the loveliest like-minded music educators, administrators, and supporters of the mission of social change through music education. Then I share these tools and visions with the Teaching Artists on my team.”

Cindy Joy Gossman, ASO Sympatico

“As a small organization, our membership in ESUSA has been an invaluable resource. The data collection help that ESUSA has spearheaded has been a useful tool that was easy to administer with a small group of volunteers. It has provided deep insight into how our students feel about their developing musical skills, why they continue their studies with us, and how we can improve our program to meet their needs and interests.

Liz Grimshaw, Founder and Executive Director, Crescendo Phoenixville
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Register Now for the 2024 National Symposium!