About Project Harmony

Project Harmony began in 2010, when former Charlotte Symphony Orchestra Music Director, Christopher Warren-Green, and his wife, Rosemary, started a tuition-free after school music program at Winterfield Elementary School. The Winterfield program eventually became what is now Project Harmony. Today, Project Harmony serves 2nd-5th grade students from Title I schools and high-needs communities across the Charlotte-Mecklenburg region, providing free music lessons, instruments, and classroom materials.

A partnership program between the Charlotte Symphony and Arts+, Project Harmony is inspired by the revolutionary music-for-social-change organization, El Sistema, which began in Venezuela in 1975. Through weekly orchestra classes, Project Harmony creates social transformation through music, fostering important skills, development, and personal empowerment. Ensemble playing is at the heart of Project Harmony: the orchestra acts as a "model society," embracing collaboration and diversity, while giving students the tools to be inspired to enact positive social change in their communities.

Core Values:

Adopted from "The Fundamentals of El Sistema: Which Inform and Guide El Sistema-Inspired Programs" by Eric Booth.

• Every human being has the right to a life of dignity and contribution, filled with beauty.
• Every child can learn to experience and express music and art deeply, can receive its many benefits, and can make healthier critical life choices as a result of this learning.
• Overcoming poverty and adversity is best done by strengthening the spirit, creating, as Dr. Abreu puts it, "an affluence of the spirit," and investing that affluence as a valued asset in a community endeavor to create excellence and beauty in music.
• Effective education is based on love, approval, joy, and consistently successful experiences within a high-functioning, aspiring, nurturing community. Every child has limitless possibilities and the ability to strive for excellence. "Trust the young," informs every aspect of the work.
• Learning organizations never arrive but are always becoming -- striving to include: more students, deeper impact, greater musical excellence, better teaching, improved tools, more joy. Thus, flexibility, experimentation, risk-taking, and collegial exchange are inherent aspects of every program.

 

PRESTO (Program for Rising El Sistema Organizations)  In July of 2018, El Sistema USA (ESUSA) identified 13 exemplary organizations nationwide to support through the Program for Rising El Sistema Organizations (PRESTO). As a member of PRESTO, ESUSA provides the Charlotte Symphony with funding, networking and mentorship opportunities, and training for senior leadership over a three-year period. Learn more about the Charlotte Symphony's involvement with PRESTO and El Sistema USA here.

El Sistema USA  El Sistema USA (ESUSA) provides connections to knowledge and innovation, advocacy, and leadership development for program directors, teaching artists, students, and volunteers. Members collaborate to share resources, values, aspirations, and advocacy efforts. ESUSA serves three major purposes: strengthening existing nucléos through capacity development and research, encouraging the formation of new nucléos through providing resources, connections and training, and building awareness of El Sistema at large throughout the United States. Learn more about El Sistema USA here.