El Sistema program launched in North Battleford

A new music program for kids has launched in North Battleford.

Thursday night marked the official launch of Community Youth Strings program at St. Mary School.

The program is based on the El Sistema program in Venezuela and inspired by other successful programs launched within Canada and the USA.

It is designed to help a child develop and learn valuable skills and have a chance to make connections with others and learn how to work together as a group.

The program is free and the idea is for the program to be available to lower-income or underprivileged youth who might otherwise not be able to afford to participate in learning music.

Among those spearheading the launch have been Rob Rongve and Heath Gabruch, who had heard of El Sistema and took on the task of bringing the program to North Battleford through their roles at RBC Dominion Securities.

RBC Dominion Securities and RBC Bank have partnered up in the program alongside the Saskatoon Symphony and Light of Christ Catholic School Division to bring the program to the community.

Rongve said RBC Foundation came up with money to get the program up and running in the Battlefords. He added that "there's a lot of us from the Royal Bank financial group that all want to step up."

Rongve also had a certain venue in mind for where he hopes the new musical group will do some performances, saying he would be "really excited to have them perform at the Dekker Centre very quickly."

The Community Youth Strings program has limited enrolment and is aimed at students between ages eight and 12. The initial target for enrolment is 12 students.

The program will run at St. Mary School every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday after school until 5:30 p.m. Students are offered a nutritious snack when they arrive and then around 4:15 p.m. receive instruction on a string instrument, or do other projects such as creating arts and crafts or attending or participating in a cultural event. The plan is for the arts and cultural activities to happen on Wednesday with the strings instruction happening Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Once the activities conclude for the day at 5:30 p.m., students will be offered a ride home by workers from Concern For Youth.

The launch event at St. Mary featured music from Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra Principal Violin 2 Oxana Ossiptchouk and her students from the Saskatoon Conservatory of Music. Those who will be helping deliver the program at the school were introduced as well.

Among those were Gene Aulinger, music educator and founding member of the Community Youth Strings program, who is acting as the local contact/organizer.

He spoke of how El Sistema will be a great fit for the schools and the community, and also spoke of the benefits that musical training can have.

While some people read books, Aulinger said "musicians not only have to read, they have to physically respond to what they read in time."

He also called it a very social thing because you have to rely on your colleagues when you play a duet for the performance to be successful.

With El Sistema, the goal is to "build this group of young people, let them model for each other and grow into all they can possibly be, all the good things they can imagine. Maybe this is their chance," said Aulinger.

Those looking for more information can contact Aulinger at (306) 445- 3314 or by email at [email protected].