Young Leaders
Apply for ESUSA’s Youth Leadership Institute
El Sistema USA just opened the applications for the 2027-28 Youth Leadership Institute (YLI), a year-long cohort that brings together program leaders and young musicians as co-learners.
Re-birth: 18 Years of Music, Meaning, and Maturing
Elizabeth Njoroge, Founder and Executive Director, Art of Music Foundation
Many of the students we began with, back in 2006, are the first in their families to finish school, to attend university, and to build careers. The truly amazing part is that now, as young adults, their dream is not to escape. Their dream is to return. They come back to their communities—with purpose, compassion, and determination. More often than not, they come back to Ghetto Classics as teachers. Most of our current 42 teachers once sat where our students now sit. The learners have become leaders.
Which means, of course, that the program no longer “belongs” to me.
