The informmation of this blog was obtained from the following sites: http://www.fesnojiv.gob.ve/

Venezuela bursting with orchestras

From a functional, educational, artistic and administrative point of view, El Sistema is made up of Núcleos. The Núcleos are community-based centers wherein FESNOJIV's orchestral and choral programs are developed. Hence the Núcleos are educational centers that, in many cases, become centers promoting the educational, artistic and cultural activities of the communities.

350,000 youngsters attend these Núcleos, which vary in size and complexity. Currently, there are 180 Núcleos operating in many cities and towns of Venezuela. They form a complex and systematic network encompassing youth and children’s orchestras and choirs.

interactive map link

http://www.fesnojiv.gob.ve/en/orchestral-and-choral-nucleos/nucleos-by-state.html

The Visionary

He has earned many accolades, like sower of hope, dream maker and key player in Venezuela's historical evolution throughout the last 50 years, but a simple word would just befit maestro José Antonio Abreu-Anselmi, the founder and driving force behind the National System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras of Venezuela, and that word is 'visionary'. This unshakably convinced, warm-hearted, strong-willed musician has been able to undertake a task that reaches beyond music to encompass the rescue and education of Venezuelan youngsters.

Born the eldest of six children to a family of musical lineage, at the break of dawn on May 7 1939, in Valera, a city in the northwestern Venezuelan state of Trujillo, Abreu confesses that it was his eagerness to serve his country, and his concerns and uneasiness about social inequality that encouraged him to develop, in 1975, an ingenious Venezuela-oriented plan aimed at synthesizing and channeling the economic, managerial, pedagogical and musical experience and knowledge he has acquired throughout his life.

Mission

To systematize music education and to promote the collective practice of music through symphony orchestras and choruses in order to help children and youngsters to achieve their full potential and to acquire values that favor their growth and have a positive impact on their lives in society.

Vision

The State Foundation for the National System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras of Venezuela (FESNOJIV - Fundación del Estado para el Sistema Nacional de Orquestas Juveniles e Infantiles de Venezuela) is an organization committed to social development through an innovative and hope-instilling music education program, distinguished by its excellence and for having a positive impact on the communities where it is implemented.

Philosophy

As a seedbed for thousands of Venezuelan youngsters, the State Foundation for the National System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras of Venezuela is bearing fruit: those Venezuelan youngsters who go through El Sistema fulfill their dreams of personal and professional realization through music. These young musicians provide a daily example of self-improvement and vitality to their fellow Venezuelans. The fruit of their effort attests to the struggle engaged in to make the so-called Venezuelan music miracle endure and extend to other spheres of culture.

Music is not only the product of the talent and virtuosity of its creators; it is the reflection of the soul of the peoples and, in this case, is the outgrowth of an education program that over the past 33 years has spread beyond our borders and has surpassed all expectations.

In the past, art was a matter of minorities for minorities; then it became a matter of minorities for majorities. Nowadays it is a matter of majorities for majorities and a key element to educating and allowing people to integrate successfully into society.

The system and The State

The State Foundation for the National Youth and Children’s Orchestra of Venezuela was established on February 20, 1979 (Decree Nº 3039, Official Gazette Nº 31681) with the purpose of preparing highly qualified musicians and obtaining the finance required to execute its plans, activities and programs.

The State Foundation for the National System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras of Venezuela (FESNOJIV) was founded in 1996 in order to promote and develop the youth and children’s orchestras formed or that may be formed by El Sistema across the country; as well as to implement activities and programs aiming at the education and training of the orchestra’s members.

The FESNOJIV is attached to the Ministry of People’s Power for Participation and Social Protection, for bringing individual benefits to youngsters and having a positive impact on the family, the community and therefore, on the society.

The FESNOJIV supports the Simon Bolivar National Youth Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, the National Youth and Children’s Orchestra of Venezuela, the local and regional youth and children’s symphony orchestras, the choral and chambers’ groups born in the bosom of El Sistema, as well as the academic and operational centers.

From a functional, educational, artistic and administrative point of view, El Sistema is made up of Núcleos operating in many cities and towns of Venezuela, thus integrating a complex and systematic network encompassing more than 150 youth orchestras and 70 children’s orchestras.

The Núcleo serve as an example and a school of social life wherein orchestral and choral activities developed by the community take place. 300,000 youngsters attend the 190 Núcleos attached and coordinated by the FESNOJIV’s Sectorial Division for Music Academic Training.

In the last two decades, the local professional symphony orchestras emerged from El Sistema have become independent state-funded organizations which have joined together in the Federación de Orquestas Sinfónicas Regionales de Venezuela (Federation of Regional Symphony Orchestras of Venezuela).

Venezuelan Music Miracle

The orchestra became a powerful magnet attracting young Venezuelans. Music found in the Symphony Youth Orchestra a means to reach other audiences: lower-income youngsters and public in general who have started to enjoy the beauty of a well-performed piece of Tchaikovsky, Mozart and/or Berlioz.

The Venezuelan orchestral phenomenon is deemed a miracle; however, the achievements fulfilled are the result of a constant effort and work ethic. José Antonio Abreu and El Sistema give example of what constant effort and dedication can accomplish.

The Founding Dream

While the National System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras (El Sistema) originates in the National Youth Orchestra, it has far exceeded the latter to become an orchestral movement that has spread all across Venezuela.

The history of El Sistema was wrought by a man who was able to find his collaborators in the right places, inspire them so that his dream became their dream, and managed to turn Venezuela, the country of birth of distinguished musicians and composers like Plaza, the Carreños, Lamas, Sojo, Estévez and many others, into a booming music scene, a model for Latin America and the rest of the world.

In 1975, maestro Abreu began endeavoring to fulfill his dream of founding an orchestra wherein music students were allowed to get together and practice. A 1964 official decree (which stated group practice as mandatory for public music schools’ students) encouraged the maestro and eight students of the old José Ángel Lamas music school to meet with the idea to conceive a unique music education program adapting other countries’ existing teaching methods to our own reality.

Calling more young musicians from Caracas and the interior of the country, particularly from the cities of Maracay and Barquisimeto (seedbed for Venezuelan musicians), Abreu was able to form the first National Symphony Youth Orchestra of Venezuela. The orchestra was founded on February 12, 1975, making its debut that same year, on April 30. That day, the orchestra started an amazing career taking it to the best stages of Venezuela and the world and earning it a UNESCO International Music Award in recognition of outstanding perseverance and achievements, and for being an example to the youth of the world.

Just a year after its formation, the orchestra was recipient of many accolades at the Aberdeen International Festivals of Youth Orchestras, and over the course of the years has recorded albums in alliance with American and European labels, has successfully undertaken the challenge of performing with the most famous soloists as well as under the baton of the most prestigious conductors.