El Sistema New Jersey Alliance

The mission of the El Sistema New Jersey Alliance (ESNJA) is to create, support and advocate for a strong network of statewide El Sistema-inspired programs that endeavor to use music as a vehicle for social change and widen life opportunities for children in New Jersey’s under-resourced communities.

ESNJA, founded in 2014, currently consists of five programs: Keys 2 Success (Newark), Paterson Music Project, Sister Cities Voices (Camden), Trenton Music Makers and United Children’s Music Project (Hudson County). ESNJA programs reach over 800 students throughout New Jersey, providing free or low-cost in-depth, high-quality choral and instrumental music education. 

ESNJA runs two core events each season:

• A one-day seminario where 200-300 students rehearse and perform together 
• A three-day sleepaway camp at Princeton-Blairstown Center where students spend time in outdoor team-building activities in addition to rehearsing and performing a culminating concert side by side with musicians of the New Jersey Symphony.

The New Jersey Symphony has been a proud fiscal sponsor of the El Sistema New Jersey Alliance since 2019.