Who we are

Walk through Otara Town Mall any afternoon and you’ll see smiling children of all ages, carrying violins, flutes and trumpets or balancing cellos on their backs! These eager learners are heading to Otara Music Arts Centre the home of one of New Zealand’s most unique and effective music and social development programmes – Sistema Aotearoa.

Sistema Aotearoa works to bring about social change, community empowerment and personal growth for children from vulnerable communities. Focussing on children with the fewest resources and greatest need the programme fosters confidence, teamwork, pride and aspiration in the children and their wider community through orchestral music making.

Sistema Aotearoa has been an integral aspect of family and community life in Otara. Since its inception in 2011, over 2800 children have been impacted by the programme. In 2017 more than 1000 Māori and Pasifika children students, aged 2 to 15 years, participated in diverse activities including lively community pre-school music sessions, concert performances, in school musicianship lessons, and instrumental tuition afterschool and in school holidays.

Based on El Sistema, a worldwide initiative, Sistema Aotearoa is a social development program that builds a sense of community, self-respect, and mutual support in children. Our free, intensive, ensemble-based music lessons inspire children to realize their full potential as students and citizens through orchestral music-making and the pursuit of musical excellence.

Today, El Sistema is not only producing transformational social change, it is producing among the best musicians in the world.

An independent evaluation report (released 2016) on the educational and social outcomes of Sistema Aotearoa concluded that the programme was contributing positively to a range of outcomes. Most noticeable was that the students scored more highly in reading and mathematics than children not participating. Other key child outcomes included increased confidence, perseverance and self-discipline and found that the programme also supported the student’s sense of belonging, vision for the future and contribution to their own culture. Important whānau outcomes included a greater involvement with their child’s schooling, and improved family relationships and parenting skills.

Sistema programmes are now established elsewhere in New Zealand and Sistema Aotearoa, as the centre for excellence and training, is sharing its knowledge and experience through Sistema NZ.