Help Change Lives with the Gift of Music

The Fox Valley El Sistema program is conducting an IndieGogo fundraising campaign to expand its music education program to a second Aurora school for the 2014-15 school year.

Fox Valley El Sistema is one of the youth programs of the Fox Valley Orchestra. A registered 501(c)3 organization, the FVO’s mission is to provide fine musical performances for people of all ages and educational opportunities for youth. Fox Valley El Sistema is an outreach program that provides free instruments and instruction to public school students who would not otherwise have access to instrumental music lessons. This hybrid social and music education program follows the model of the original El Sistema program in Venezuela. The original program is known for saving lives and providing the groundwork of lifelong social success for hundreds of thousands of poor youth on an international scale.

Fox Valley El Sistema partnered with Communities in Schools and the Fox Valley Park District to launch the initial program at Smith Elementary in Aurora. Seventy five students participated, learning to play the violin, viola, or cello. The program was a smashing success. Students not only learned to play an instrument, but also practiced responsibility and discipline, in addition to having a lot of fun. The program had a huge impact on our students and their families. According to one of our fifth graders, “The El Sistema program changed my life.”

In expanding to at least one additional school, the FVO will double its weekly outreach to those who need this program the most. The initial startup cost for a new school, which covers the costs of securing instruments and materials for about seventy-five children, is $20,000. The cost of instruction at a new partner school, which provides three teachers, 2- days per week, is $20,000. Therefore, the total cost for a new school would be $40,000 in the first year and $20,000 each successive year to maintain a 2-day per week program.

Though costly, the FVO believes that the Fox Valley El Sistema program is a priceless gift to Aurora’s at-risk and underserved children. El Sistema’s roots go back to 1975 in a parking garage in Caracas, Venezuela, where Dr. José Antonio Abreu gathered together 11 children to play music. Since that time, El Sistema has developed into a system not only of music education and performance, but also of social change and community building. By removing the economic barrier to entry that is common to the performing arts world, El Sistema opens doors to those most in need of these opportunities. Through free instruction and by providing instruments, children are given a chance they would likely never receive or afford elsewhere. In areas where it has been established and nurtured, El Sistema becomes a vehicle of reducing crime and poverty. The enrichment of the human spirit and the sense of identity that evolves in the children is invaluable to their intellectual development and social success.

The online campaign to raise $10,000 toward the start-up costs for the second school runs through August 28th. Several “perks” are available for supporters, including art and music from local talent, restaurant coupons, private music lessons, and more. The campaign can be found at igg.me/at/fox-valley-el-sistema