Mission and vision

El Sistema Greece is a community music program that provides free access to quality music education to children and young people in Greece. It aims at building an inclusive music community that celebrates diversity and empowers students by developing their music skills and stimulating their independent thinking and agency. Our activities are open to all children and are provided in groups for free.

We reach out to children and youth from diverse backgrounds, including those in refugee and asylum seeker facilities, unaccompanied minors shelters and after-school centres, as well as at our primary location in the vibrant multicultural area of Kypseli in Athens. Through music activities we bring all the children together as equal members of a community that reflects the change we aim to bring into the society.

El Sistema Greece’s educational approach is inspired by El Sistema Venezuela, the social program based on the collective practice of music learning, founded in 1975 by José Antonio Abreu and afterwards adopted by more than 70 countries around the world. Among other prizes and awards, El Sistema was recognized by UNICEF for its effectiveness in combating and preventing juvenile delinquency.

Collective music education has proven to be a powerful tool for social inclusion, socioemotional growth and skills development. The impact of this practice is not only evident on the students themselves, but also on their families, their communities and as a result on society as a whole.

To date, more than 3.500 children and young people aged 5-26 have participated in the activities of El Sistema Greece.

Active Artists |

Real Musicians

We combine group music learning and artistic excellence. When the children take their instruments they are seen as artists who can develop their musical and social skills, challenge stereotypes and demonstrate in practice their value as active community members.

Our unique approach, tailored to our local context, is shared with other Sistema-inspired programs worldwide. Our students perform in community centers in Greece, in collaboration with many artists, as well as in prestigious concert halls both nationally and internationally.

Our primary goals are social inclusion and youth empowerment through music, within a dynamic and international environment that fosters well-being for all.

Our Story

In the mid-1970s, conductor José Antonio Abreu formed an orchestra with a group of children in Venezuela with the aim of group music study, changing the musical education system and creating a new movement that would be a source of income for the members of the orchestra. Thus El Sistema social program in Venezuela was created, which turned poor children away from the streets and crime by integrating them into musical ensembles, giving them new experiences and upgrading their lives as a whole.

Inspired by the pioneering educational approach of El Sistema, El Sistema Greece started in 2016 to offer free music lessons to children who were in refugee centers in Attica. In March 2018 El Sistema Greece became an official member of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees participating in the With Refugees campaign and in May the program was presented at the ClassicalNEXT Project Pitch in Rotterdam, Netherlands. In October of the same year, El Sistema Greece was established as an autonomous NGO with the Venezuelan El Sistema (Fundamusical Simon Bolivar) and Sistema Europe by its side. Today, adapted to the needs of Greek reality, it continues its activities by offering free music lessons in various parts of Athens and Corinth -with refugee centers among them- independently or in collaboration with other organizations.

The El Sistema Greece program started in Greece in August 2016 with the joint effort of Impact Hub Athens and Anis Barnat in order to support the socially weaker children through music. As part of its joint collaboration, the El Sistema Greece Youth Orchestra was founded in Greece in October 2017. In 2018, the parties jointly decided to continue their contribution to the above purpose through two separate structures. Anis Barnat created the Non-Profit Company “El Sistema Greece” and Impact Hub Athens created an Art Community that uses programs and activities inspired by the methodology, practice and approach of “El Sistema”. In this way, each party recognizes the valuable contribution of the other party and at the same time jointly preserves the heritage created by the two years of El Sistema’s presence in Greece.