El Sistema

I was pleased to support the motion put forward by my colleague, Labour Group Leader Councillor Kevin Keenan which means that the council will look towards helping to develop the El Sistema scheme in Dundee.

I am very supportive of El Sistema.  I have seen what has been achieved in Raploch in Stirling after El Sistema and the Big Noise worked there.  I am also delighted to see the work going on in Govanhill in Glasgow.  I was born in Glasgow and brought up in Govanhill for the first few years of my life.  Govanhill is an area which I know well and has many problems and in terms of deprivation it is similar to places in Dundee.

El Sistema is about empowering people in communities, and about raising expectations and saying to young people that they can achieve things with the right support and hard work.  There is a lot of great work going on in our schools with regard to music education.  I know that our schools are doing a great job and are doing what they can to combat poverty and social exclusion.  The El Sistema project focuses on alleviating poverty and will empower young people in some of our poorest communities.

I have raised the possibilities of El Sistema in the council chamber in the past and I have also said that if it came to Dundee it would be a fitting tribute to the memory of the late Michael Marra.

I would like to pay tribute to the work of Optimistic Sound on this issue and wish them all the very best for the future.