The Simon Bolivar Project

The Simon Bolivar Project in essence is to expand the El Sistema program to reach 1 million students by the year 2019. As noted in various articles (http://nsnbc.me/2013/05/23/venezuela-to-expand-its-el-sistema-music-program/) the project will be funded by the President's Office. 

Roderigo gave us more information about the methods being used to reach the goal of 1 million:

·         El Sistema will continue to lobby community leaders to get permission to start programs, and knock on doors in barrios to invite families to be involved. They receive continued requests from communities as well to have El Sistema work with their children.

·         The program will speed up its de-centralisation process in order to reach the required number of children. Currently audition opportunities, instruments and other resources are difficult to get outside Caracas, and there are not many opportunities to play in Caracas or tour nationally. There needs to be a stronger bridge between the two worlds of El Sistema – the ‘elite’ and ‘rural’ nucleos by supporting and mentoring teachers sent to rural nucleos.

·         El Sistema will build on the government-led Bolivarian school scheme as a way of working with the public schools and including them as part of the project. The school day usually ends at 1pm, but this is extended to 5pm so the schools essentially become nucleos. Parents already pay a lot for childcare during this time so this would also greatly benefit families. The scheme is 6 years old and currently involves art and sports activities. El Sistema was initially consulted by the government because of the organisation’s long experience dealing with large amounts of children in arts activities. There has been Presidential approval for El Sistema to take on this scheme as part of the project along with the access to funding, resources and facilities that are part of the scheme.

·         The program needs to triple the amount of staff (including allowing existing teachers to get certification) and to create foundations to allocate funds. Lots of institutional development needs to occur – there has been much expansion vertically but now El Sistema needs to expand its base to create opportunities for all regardless of location.

·         The Special Needs Department at Barquisimeto aims to create a pilot program in state schools and then replicate the model at other schools.

We heard lots of variance in numbers of how many students are currently in the program and how many each area was aiming to get on board. At some points it sounded like a race to get as many numbers in the program as possible, regardless of the quality of musical engagement. We talked we some nucleo directors about their strategy to reach this goal.

Jesus – Nucleo Director at Merida

Jesus is convinced that the project will be successful due to Dr Abreu’s visionary leadership; “There are those who doubt his huge plans but when you speak to him, he makes them sound plausible, he convinces people as a musician and an economist.” He pointed out the reputation and celebrity surrounding El Sistema, Dudamel and the program’s global renown; “Everyone wants to be part of El Sistema - the real revolution!”  Families are inspired by the achievements of their neighbours and they realise that background isn’t an issue. According to Jesus, this year the whole of El Sistema wants to recruit 120,000 more kids (he thinks a more realistic figure of how many in the program now is 390,000).

Merida’s strategy this year is to extend to six new schools and 6000 more students, which has been made more possible with the new cable car from the town centre to the barrios. It is impossible to expand the existing nucleos as they are already too full, so they will work with the schools first and then open another nucleo. They started in November 2013 with choir and recorders; students share instruments, there is a carousel of classes, and the program also sells violins to students (the cheapest are 5,000 Bolivares).They aim to present these new students’ performances and then get money for orchestral instruments from regional and local governments. Jesus spoke about issues with getting the directors at the state schools on board with the program, but not with the students and their parents. They eventually want to get 20,000 children in the whole state involved.

Victor – Nucleo Director in Ejido, Merida State

Victor worked in the nucleo development office in Caracas. His area goal for 2019 is to expand the number of children served from 487 to 3325. Within four days, they set up 25 small music centres of 1,300 students in the barrios in the area (modulos) with only one teacher for singing, cuatro and theory. An issue is to get motivated teachers for the modulos who are willing to adapt to the school environment and the facilities available. When asked about the pace of the project, he replied; “It’s going quickly because it is working! When a Venezuelan has an idea, you just do it.”

From his experience in Caracas, he told us how the culture of the new students is the most challenging aspect of nucleo development, as they come from very difficult and dangerous backgrounds. He was involved in going from house to house with teachers to invite people to the project. They even talked to the ‘mafia’ about bringing culture to the barrios, and persuaded them to leave the program alone and protect them.

It will be interesting to see how the dynamics of the El Sistema program adapt to working in schools, considering that many Sistema-inspired programs are in-school or after-school programs. The success of this project will undoubtedly continue the program’s ever-increasing global influence.