El Sistema-USA launches Abreu Fellows Program

El Sistema-USA launches Abreu Fellows Program, a one-year post-graduate program that will train musicians in Boston and in Venezuela.

The Abreu Fellows Program at New England Conservatory, the first initiative of El Sistema USA, has launched a tuition-free postgraduate certificate program for young musicians interested in becoming ambassadors of El Sistema, the Venezuelan music-education program founded in 1976 by José Antonio Abreu.

A new website, www.elsistemausa.org , gives detailed information on the one-year program, which initially will admit eighteen musicians, who will be housed at New England Conservatory and spend a year studying in Boston and Caracas.

Musicians will receive guided internships in the second semester with public programs that serve youth at risk, followed by a required subsequent year working to advance or found an El Sistema program outside Venezuela. The website serves both as a portal to promote the Abreu Fellows and as a support and advocacy network for people and organizations interested in El Sistema work and creating El Sistema-inspired programs in the United States. The curriculum, teaching-training materials, and documentation of the program will be available free of charge at the website. Earlier this year, Abreu received a $100,000 TED Prize www.TEDPrize.org , which he used to help fund the program.