Dear Twitter friends,
I ask you to consider joining me in a noble experiment to prove the transformative power of music. If we're successful, an amazing musician, supported by us, will be trained for a year to lead a music program in an American inner-city area, similar to the world-acclaimed El Sistema youth orchestra program of Venezuela.
To understand the power of this idea, please do the following:
1) Spend a few moments watching this astonishing youth orchestra performance.
2) Consider that a few years ago many of the children you just watched were living in poverty in Venezuela. Music changed their lives and also impacted the lives of the communities they live in. To understand how this could possibly be so, please watch the inspiring TED Prize speech of the founder of El Sistema, Jose Antonio Abreu.
3) Read Maestro Abreu's TED Prize wish. (Each year TED grants 3 remarkable individuals a prize allowing them to make 'One Wish to Change the World')
“I wish you would help create and document a special training program for at least 50 gifted young musicians, passionate for their art and for social justice, and dedicated to developing El Sistema in the US and in other countries.”
In other words: let's train the trainers. These 50 musicians will be the global ambassadors of El Sistema committing to establish similar programs elsewhere.
4) Take a look at the fantastic training program that has already been created in response to Maestro Abreu's wish. It's based at the New England Conservatory under the leadership of Mark Churchill, a long time friend, colleague and admirer of Maetro Abreu From this startpoint El Sistema will be able to spread around the world. We can help.
4) Please consider clicking the Donate button and chipping in whatever you can afford. I'm hoping we on Twitter can raise enough funding to completely support one of the new El Sistema USA fellows. He or she will undergo a year of training, in Boston and in Venezuela, learning every aspect of what it takes to recruit, train and inspire kids to let music transform their lives. Then the real work starts. But the year of training is crucial.
The amount we need is $25,000. It sounds a lot, but every $ helps. It would be thrilling if this group of us on Twitter could pull this off. As far as I'm concerned anyone who joins this effort is an absolute hero, and I will be publishing here the full list of those contributing unless you ask otherwise.
Donation > $9 = Valued Giver
Donation > $29 = Valued Contributor
Donation > $99 = Valued Donor
Donation > $299 = Fellow Enabler
Donation > $999 = Maestro
All funds will be paid into a segregated account of The Sapling Foundation (owner of TED) and 100% of the proceeds will go toward the scholarship.
If we're successful, I'll look forward to introducing you to the Musician whose career you'll have helped nudge into a new, transformative direction. And we'll track their progress from time to time over the coming year.
Please consider retweeting, and thanks for listening!
