In the last months of 2019, several European Sistemas were recognised for the work they carry out. In this article, we'll take you on a quick tour of the continent to look at who's been awarded what, also taking into account those members who were selected as finalists in their nomination processes.
Sistema Finland
We start off in the north of Europe, in Finland, where Jarmo Ahvenainen received the 2019 Cultural Achievement Prize from The City of Vantaa for his work with the Tempo Orchestra / Sistema Finland in December.
Jarmo Ahvenainen is a retired music teacher & the founder and long-time director of the Tempo Orchestra in Vantaa. He has been active in Tempo throughout the orchestra's ten-year career and has also been the chairman of El Sistema Finland since its inception, steering the orchestra through an eventful and successful first decade.
To find out more about this first decade and why The City of Vantaa has chosen to decorate Jarmo Ahvenainen and Sistema Finland for their integrative work in the local community, take a look at our article on the Tempo Orchestra's tenth anniversary. This article delves into the context surrounding the association's establishment and charts its growth into a vibrant, truly representative local organisation with c.120 pupils in three schools in and around Vantaa.
Jarmo Ahvenainen at the prizegiving ceremony
El Sistema Alsace
Leaving Finland, we travel across Central Europe, arriving in eastern France, where El Sistema Alsace triumphed in the the youth category of the Trophées des Collectivités d'Alsace 2019 in October.
Based in Bischwiller, El Sistema Alsace works to build bridges in a post-industrial area known for its significant Turkish diaspora.
The rapidity of social change witnessed in Bischwiller since the late 1960s has been immense and El Sistema Alsace plays an important role in bringing the town's diverse communities together in a language-neutral, solidary community environment. The programme encourages tolerance and cooperation and builds confidence amongst, in particular, some 55 children from the government's REP programme (for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds).
The Trophées des Collectivités d'Alsace prize recognises the importance of El Sistema Alsace's community work and Jean Lucien Netzer, the town's mayor, highlighted the project's positive impact on the wider community in his prizegiving speech, speaking of a "school for life", of building the social skills required for a successful community and of the joy experienced by both musicians and spectators at El Sistema Alsace's regular local performances.
Watch the prizegiving (in French)!
Orquestra Geração
After Alsace, our next stop is Amadora, on the west coast of Portugal, where Orquestra Geração picked up the Medalha Municipal de Mérito e Dedicação [Municipal Medal of Merit and Dedication] in September.
On the occasion of its 40th anniversary as a city, Amadora paid tribute to those individuals and associations whose work has honoured and promoted the municipality, contributing to its development and/or the well-being of its inhabitants. In this context, the Municipal City Council celebrated Orquestra Geração, which, since its foundation in Amadora in 2007, has spread to the wider metropolitan area of Lisbon as well as influencing other Sistemas abroad and helping promote success at school within the city of its birth.
To top off Orquestra Geração's autumn, the team also saw a government resolution approved in late July 2019, which not only secured the organisation's future but also ensured that exciting times will lie ahead, with provision made for a national expansion of the programme.
Next summer, other Sistemas will once more be able to see Orquestra Geração's work for themselves, as the first Pop Up Orchestra camp is due to take place in Lisbon in summer 2020, bringing together musicians from both Orquestra Geração and other Sistemas from across the continent.
Orquestra Geração's Municipal Medal of Merit and Dedication
DaLaNota
Next summer will also see another European Sistema event take place, with SEYO's sixth incorporation taking place in Madrid under the organisation of Acción Social por la Música and DaLaNota. And, our trip now takes us inland to the Spanish capital, to celebrate DaLaNota winning the first prize in the City of Madrid's Public-Social Cooperation Awards in late 2019. This municipal measure to promote social innovation and to improve the lives of Madrid's city districts both acknowledges the importance of DaLaNota's work and (with prize money of €10,000) helps ensure that they will be able to keep offering their free and inclusive social music education programmes in Madrid.
As other Sistemas will soon see, it is no surprise that DaLaNota is winning local goverment support, as its inclusive strategy reaps dividends for the city, with the team working with and providing opportunities for around 70 children in the multicultural Madrid neighbourhood of Lavapiés. Here, the association pursues positive social transformation through the provision of intensive music learning for students at risk of vulnerability or social exclusion and offers psychosocial accompaniment for both the young musicians and their families.
DaLaNota was also part of the Red Música Social network team (along with Sistema members Acción Social por la Música & Orquesta Escuela) whose members became beneficiaries of the Spanish state post service's solidarity seal stamp for 2019/2020. With this award Red Música Social receives 3% of all sales of the stamp, as Corrreos honours the network's members' commitment to the UN's Agenda 2030 and their work in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals in their everyday activities.
Watch an introduction to the Public-Social Cooperation Awards (in Spanish!)
Click here if you cannot see/hear the video.
Orquesta Escuela
A short train ride north of Madrid and we reach another member of Red Música Social in Zaragoza, in northern Spain. It's here that the Llámalo H collective (which includes Orquesta Escuela) and the municipal government won the Eurocities 2019 award in the category of participation in November for the Harinera ZGZ culture centre's role in contributing to the transformation of the city and in generating a more inclusive and cohesive community in Zaragoza's San José neighbourhood.
In granting the prize, Eurocities paid specific attention to the members of the centre's governing collective, Llámalo H, stating that:
Harinera ZGZ runs on the basis of a shared governance model that gives an equal voice to the city council, the neighbourhood and local cultural players on its assembly. Giving citizens a say in every decision, from the architectural adaptation of the space to programming the content, enables them not only to consume but also to determine and produce their own culture. Harinera’s commitment to equality of access to culture means it also focuses on promoting projects aimed at groups at risk of social exclusion, such as the elderly and refugees, and offering affordable prices and free admission activities.
Orquesta Escuela is a large part of this, working together with social services in the Zaragoza districts of San José, Casco Viejo and Oliver to provide weekly community music projects to more than 60 young people between the ages of six and 17. Orquesta Escuela integrates local pensioners into its classes and focuses specifically on children from disadvantaged or precarious backgrounds. Furthermore, the entire Orchestra Social School community rehearsal programme is provided free of charge for the families involved and children receive their own instruments to practise on at home, ensuring access to musical culture and a positive and productive outlet in their lives.
Watch the Eurocities awards video on Harinera ZGZ!
Barış İçin Müzik
After Zaragoza, we then take a leap across Europe to Bursa in the north-west of Turkey, where we celebrate Barış İçin Müzik's receiving the Contemporary Journalists Association 2019 award for culture and art in recognition of the work that the programme continues to cary out in the city's Işıktepe neighbourhood.
In an article in the Tukish paper, Haberler, published about a week before the prizegiving, the programme's teachers spoke about their approach to teaching and of the importance of the children enjoying their participation:
While we are teaching the children, we learn a lot from them about our profession, we interact with them. We don't ask those who want to participate in the programme whether they like the music or not. Our aim is to ensure that they like the music. Talent is not very important, we'll definitely be able to make them play something, as long as they want to play. The aim is to have the children playing together in the orchestra. As soon as they start to play together, they get to like it and then they continue to play. Our doors are open to everyone as long as we have enough space and instruments to go around.
Meltem Mutlu
The programme's teachers also expressed their satisfaction with the progress they were making, with Emrah Takmak stating that "We have made a lot of progress in four years. Seeing the improvements that the children have made means a lot to us". Haberler evidently agreed as they concluded the article by stating that "Thanks to the music education provided by Barış İçin Müzik, new horizons have opened up in the lives of children who would otherwise have no access to equal opportunities".
2020 will, incidentally, provide another opportunity to see the progress which Barış İçin Müzik has been making not only in Bursa but throughout Turkey, with some ambitious plans emerging for their fifteenth anniversary celebrations in October/November. We look forward to reporting on the festivities as the big day comes around and wish the team all the very best in the build-up!
Watch a short clip of Barış İçin Müzik's prizegiving performance!
The last few months have also seen three very deserving Sistema Europe members coming very close to winning awards as finalists in prize categories and we would like to highlight the recognition of their work, too.
Passeurs d’arts Méditerranée and El Sistema France Opéra Méditerranée
In Paris in November, both Passeurs d’arts Méditerranée and El Sistema France Opéra Méditerranée were amongst the finalists of the Chambre syndicale des Editeurs de Musique de France's Prix de l’Enseignement Musical [Music Education Prize].
Sergio Monterisi, Magali Thomas & other nominees with members of the jury
El Sistema France Opéra Méditerranée made it through to the final selection in the category of "a show featuring young performers" for their highly successful Peter Pan opera. And, Passeurs d’arts Méditerranée was on the shortlist in the category of "the implentation of either an instrumental or musical training method", acknowledging Verna Kaunisto-Feodorow's successful application of the Sistema method on the fringes of the Camargue.
Verna Kaunisto-Feodorow & other nominees with members of the jury
You can find out more about Passeurs d'arts Méditerranée by reading our introduction to the programme from early 2019 and discover El Sistema France Opéra Méditerranée's operatic adaption of Peter Pan by reading our article around their performance of this same piece at Nice's opera house last February.
In Harmony Liverpool
Our tour ends in the far north-west of Europe, where the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic was a finalist in the Liverpool City Region and Culture Awards in November, with In Harmony Liverpool's "award-winning music education programme" receiving special reference just months after its teaching team had collected the Music Teacher Awards for Excellence prize as 2019's Outstanding Classical Music Education Initiative.
To find out more about the great work that In Harmony Liverpool carries out in the north-west of England and how its educational team came to win their excellence award, take a look at our 10th anniversary article on the programme from last summer.
Congratulations!
We congratulate all the teams involved and hope that they and all Sistemas will continue to receive the recognition they deserve for the fantastic work that they carry out.
Having issues playing the Facebook videos?
Depending on your settings, embedded videos from Facebook may be muted and/or invisible. If you can't hear any sound, then click on the speaker icon at the bottom right of the video. If you cannot see the video and are using Firefox, then temporarily disable tracking protection by clicking on the shield to the left of this page's URL address (at the top of the page).