BCF’s Kids 4 Harmony, established in 2011, is a new model for social change. The program is inspired by El Sistema, a visionary global movement that began in 1975 in Caracas, Venezuela. El Sistema’s mission perfectly parallels the goals of BCF: to improve the lives of children by strengthening family and community relationships.

The mission of the Boston Music Project is to ensure the long-term social and musical success of our students, and to positively impact them and their families through high-quality music education and performance.

Boston String Academy (BSA) is a non-profit organization, inspired by the Venezuelan El Sistema model which believes in music as a vehicle for social change. We provide rigorous string instrument instruction to children in under-served communities. BSA aims to provide instruction of the highest quality, laying a musical foundation that could take a child to college or conservatory. Our program makes mastery of a string instrument reachable by eliminating obstacles that stand in an inner-city family’s way. 100% of tuition is subsidized, programs are offered in/near the children’s schools, and private lessons and instrument rentals are included in the orchestral training.

BYSO's Intensive Community Program (ICP) is a rigorous instrumental training program, in response to financial and cultural accessibility barriers preventing students from Boston’s inner city from auditioning into BYSO’s orchestras and participating in our high-quality programming. ICP aims to serve students from populations traditionally underrepresented in the classical music field and in BYSO.

The El Sistema-inspired music program strives to expose children in such ways. Starting in first grade, every Bridge Boston student participates in our instrumental music program, not just those students perceived to have musical talent or interest. Through daily ensemble-based rehearsals, students learn not only how to play, listen to, and appreciate music; they also learn how to persevere through challenges, to hold themselves to high standards, and to achieve in ways they may not have expected. Each year we perform four large-scale instrumental and choral concerts, including our culminating June public concert in Franklin Park.

City Strings United (CSU) was founded in 2012 on the belief that access to high-quality youth programs can create positive change in economically-strained communities and foster the social, emotional and educational development of its youth. As a 501(c)(3) non-profit youth program, City Strings United provides free cello lessons and unique performance opportunities to six through eighteen-year-old students primarily from urban Boston. But CSU teaches much more than musical skills. We focus on discipline, teamwork, respect, listening and accountability - all attributes that we nurture to develop the whole child.

Community Strings is a violin program that strives to bring a high level of instruction to the students of Community Day Charter Public School and Community Day Learning’s Latchkey Enrichment Program.

CMCB is honored to receive support from the Mass Cultural Council's SerHacer program and from the Johnson String Project, in support of partnerships to provide year-round musical instruction. Our in-school violin and/or cello classes at the Adams, Manning, Mason and Russell Elementary are complemented by our 4-week SummerMUSIC program each July. Thanks to generous support from our partners, we are able to reach approximately 150 students each year with high quality musical education and instrumental instruction.

Community Music School of Springfield, founded in 1983, is a non-profit community arts school in Western Massachusetts. Our mission is to provide an equitable and inclusive center of excellence in music and arts education that empowers individuals, inspires creative passion, and promotes well-being in our greater community. We serve more than 700 students annually at our 127 State Street location, and an additional 1,000 students each week in our community partnership programs.

Conservatory Lab Charter School empowers a diverse range of children as scholars, artists, and leaders through a unique and rigorous academic and music education. We enrich the larger community through performance, service, and collaboration. As a laboratory school, we develop and disseminate innovative educational approaches that will positively impact children in other schools and programs.

As music educators in the Lawrence Public Schools, our mission is to empower all students to be lifelong, independent musicians who will confidently create, perform, and respond to the music surrounding them and their extended communities. From general music classes, to ensemble rehearsals and performances, students are provided with an education that focuses on developing holistic artistic literacy, and equips them to leave their unique and creative mark in the world.

The Merrimack Valley Community Music School is a community-based, non-profit music school that is dedicated to helping people connect through music education and performance. Music at its best brings people together and creates positive energy within a community as a common language that bonds us beyond cultural, social and economic differences. Music education is a powerful way to learn about oneself and to explore the possibilities that lie within each of us, to reach for our highest good and potential.

Musica Franklin was founded in 2015. We run free music programs for low-income youth, open to any student in grades 2-7 who live in Franklin County, MA. We provide an after-school space where children are safe, supervised and immersed in music! Our students meet 3-4 hours a week at a Title 1 elementary school, and a housing community, to learn percussion, singing, and either violin or cello. Our curriculum builds self-esteem and teaches skills that transfer to broader success in life. Every month, we host a Community Night at each site with performances by the students and local guest artists, followed by a meal.

musiConnects is a non-profit organization created to establish and support educational and artistic residencies, in the Greater Boston area, based on chamber music. The common goal of the musiConnects community is to bring together people from a variety of backgrounds to meet and communicate through a shared language of music. Music allows us to learn about one another and make connections that transcend our differences.

El Sistema Somerville is a daily afterschool music program that provides ensemble-based music instruction to SPS elementary and middle school students, grades 3–8. The program offers intensive study on strings, winds and brass instruments through orchestral rehearsals, sectionals, musicianship and technique classes, chamber music, and private lessons. Students play violin, viola, cello, bass, flute, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, and trombone.

At the High School of Science and Technology (HSST) students are provided experiences, both in and outside of school, that help prepare them to enter college or careers with twenty first century learning skills already in hand.

Neighborhood Strings is an El-Sistema inspired, community-based program of the Worcester Chamber Music Society (WCMS) that offers free music lessons in violin, viola and cello to youth from Worcester’s Downtown and Main South neighborhoods. The program provides affordable, high-quality arts education, fosters family involvement, and is open and accessible to the neighborhoods. Youth learn to make music together with musicians and friends from the WCMS.

Worcester Public Schools - Burncoat Unites: We are a district-wide after-school program for student instrumentalists in grades 3-12. We engage students in all aspects of the El Sistema principles of Citizen, Artist and Scholar Everyday, Everywhere. Adults participate in a supporting role and support leadership, development, and mentoring relationships. Students participate in homework sessions, service projects, sectionals, and ensembles twice a week from October through March. Students vary from beginners to district music festival winners. Students participate in two concerts each year. The contribution from Johnson String has made it possible for several students to participate this year.