Sistema Cyprus

Sistema Cyprus is a social-music orchestra and choir programme established in 2017. Sistema Cyprus provides accessible music education to the children and young people of Cyprus, including migrants, refugees and disadvantaged children and young people, and ensures that these disadvantaged groups are respected, recognised, and included in the society. Sistema Cyprus is an El Sistema inspired social action music programme that was first founded in Venezuela in 1975. Currently, Sistema Cyprus operates in Nicosia and Larnaca and engages 200 children and young people in orchestra, choir and community music activities, through the work of 15 professional musicians, 20 musician volunteers and the support of 80 program support volunteers. Sistema Cyprus expertise includes community music education and musical instrument teaching to vulnerable populations through a methodology that is adjusted to the model of developing a learning environment based on safety, inclusion, and equality. Finally, Sistema Cyprus is an expert in training young people to use music for promoting social inclusion for refugee, migrant and disadvantaged children and young people. Sistema Cyprus works to educate and empower marginalized populations, providing them with opportunities for social inclusion and broadening the visibility of their success stories. Through our social music programme, we strive to offer a better life opportunity to marginalized children who are often feeling unwelcome from belonging to the society that they live in. El Sistema and other related El Sistema programs offer free classical music education that gives impoverished children and youth all over the world the opportunity for personal development. Sistema Cyprus is focused on the personal development of its participants focusing primarily on empowerment and reaching their potentials. Through the formation of orchestras and choirs, El Sistema acts as a superb model, reaching children and young people to many of the world's underprivileged neighbourhoods. Our main activities include daily practice of instrumental learning, orchestra and choir rehearsals where every child or young people is in Sistema Cyprus for 5 hours per week. In addition, we organise 3 concerts every year where the students of Sistema Cyprus present their work to thousands of people in Cyprus. Finally, we offer trainings for musicians twice per year on how to use music as a tool for social inclusion and social integration. Our theory of change: A city, a country, a world where there is "no longer oppressor nor longer oppressed, but human in the process of achieving freedom" (Paolo Freire). With only 2 year of existence Sistema Cyprus has established major achievements. Sistema Cyprus established important collaborations and has been entrusted by organisations that supported their actions in every manner such as UNCHR Cyprus, US Embassy in Cyprus, Nicosia Municipality, European Cultural Foundation, the Global Leaders Program and the Carnegie Hall in New York . The most important achievement is the collaboration with three universities in Cyprus (University of Nicosia, European University Cyprus and Frederick University Cyprus) that provide academic scholarships to the students of Sistema Cyprus. This achievement further develops Sistema Cyprus students' opportunity to dream and set high goals for their life. Sistema Cyprus is an International Partner of Carnegie Hall in New York implementing the "Lullaby project" in Cyprus, where brings together vulnerable new moms and pregnant women with artists in order to compose specialized lullabies for their babies. Sistema Cyprus is also a partner of the Global Leaders Program which empowers a rising generation of change-makers in music to transform lives and communities through an innovative nine-month Executive Graduate Certificate in Social Entrepreneurship, Cultural Agency, Teaching Artistry, and Civic Leadership. Led in partnership with nine top universities and think tanks including Harvard, Georgetown, McGill, Johns Hopkins, and Duke Universities, and a world-class faculty that includes two Nobel Laureates, the Program is offered annually to a select Cohort of 40 of the most promising emerging talents from around the globe. In July 2020, Sistema Cyprus contribution to society and specifically the Executive Director, Dr Nikoletta Polydorou has been awarded by Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth II with the Commonwealth Points of Light Award.