News
Editorial -- Miramichi Leader -- Wednesday, October 28, 2016
It was a good day for the community at large in Miramichi last Friday.
We are referring to the announcement that Sistema N.B. is extending its programming to our city starting in January. This program will involve establishing free after-school classical music training for eventually no less than 75 students here in our city, many of them from disadvantaged backgrounds.
This is truly a wonderful opportunity that’s been delivered to us, and one that will certainly be enriching on different levels.
What’s the big deal about music lessons and this kind of venture, some may ask? It’s the doors that participation in Sistema may eventually open for these youngsters. Not to mention the self esteem and sense of accomplishment the program will provide its young participants.
“In the beauty of the music,they are learning focus and discipline,”said Keith MacLeod, chief executive officer of the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra and founder of Sistema NB.
“They are learning respect and teamwork and these are values that are essential for an orchestra to succeed but even more, to have a successful life... and they also get real good at the music,” he said in an interview with the Miramichi Leader.
Sistema’s programming has been spreading steadily throughout New Brunswick since it was established here back in 2009 with the help of the youth orchestra.
Schools in Moncton, Saint John, Edmundston, the Tobique First Nation, Richibucto and now Miramichi provide the free lessons to over 700 students.
The Miramichi program will be based out of St. Andrews Elementary School under the direction of Sistema instructors Carlos Armao,a native of Venezuela, and Emily Field,both of whom are graduates of the prestigious music program at Montreal’s McGill University with three other instructors scheduled to be brought in as the program develops.
Students from Ian Baillie and Napan Elementary School will also be eligible for the Sistema sessions. The program will eventually migrate to the incoming elementary school set to be built on King Street by the time that facility welcomes students in the fall of 2017.
Of course, while all of this is free for the students, it certainly isn’t free to provide. The provincial government is ponying up $100,000 on an annual basis for Sistema in Miramichi, which will cost $160,000 a year in total. The city is contributing $20,000, already approved last Thursday by council. There are community partners, too, with $20,000 being allocated for the program from the Miramichi Big Brothers Big Sisters Boys and Girls Club. Meanwhile, various community organizations,including the Miramichi Kinsmen Club,the local Rotary Club and the Highland Society of New Brunswick at Miramichi, have committed themselves to contributing resources for this worthwhile endeavour.
To us, this kind of undertaking in Miramichi easily justifies the necessary funding; dollars invested in bettering our youth add up to dollars put towards our future.
It’s a collective investment in our community – and a tip of the conductor’s baton to all those are making this possible.
