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Our Story

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We are an organization committed to transforming the lives of our youth and communities through the inspiration, discipline, and performance of classical ensemble music. El Sistema Santa Cruz was founded in 2012, as an El Sistema inspired orchestral and choral education program and is a bold and ambitious systematic approach to community enhancement through orchestral, ensemble playing and singing. Students engage in rigorous daily practice and rehearsals, perform regularly on stage and throughout the community, and learn the importance of becoming responsible citizens. Our staff offer music education each day after school to students at Gault, Radcliff, Mintie White elementary schools and Duncan Holbert pre-school.

​ El Sistema Santa Cruz is mainly an Orff-based pre-orchestra program working with local school districts and local foundations to offer a tuition-free after-school program that operates during the school year. In addition to providing musical training and enrichment, El Sistema teaches respect, responsibility, cooperation, community service, empathy and dedication. Surveys have shown that El Sistema students benefit from improved study habits, improved grades and improved self-esteem and confidence.

Donate

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Serving Santa Cruz County
at Gault, Radcliff, Mintie White, Valencia elementary schools and Duncan Holbert Preschool

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Impacting Children's Lives

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El Sistema and COVID19:

Since the school closure on March 13 the Sistema team was able to stay in touch with students and continue teaching music remotely thanks to the local school districts who provided chromebooks and hotspots to all students. See below some samples of what we have been doing:

• Play/sing along video
• Play along video
• music edition of science Friday
• Covid 19 messaging (handwashing song)
• video honoring El Sistema students at Gault Elementary School
• We just finished a six weeks summer session in Pajaro Valley where 4500 students had access to our online program. 
• El Sistema was selected out of thousands of entries to present a workshop on student leadership at the International Society of Music Education in Helsinki in August 2020, an in person event that ended up being canceled because of COVID-19 but that is still taking place online and will be connecting virtually with music instructors from around the world.

 We are currently planning our next season!

Board Meetings are held the 3rd Wednesday of August, October, January, March and June.

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Our Sponsors

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