The Los Angeles Philharmonic announced Jan. 8 the National Take a Stand Festival, an unprecedented initiative to create a unified national platform for El Sistema-inspired programs throughout the United States.

“Gustavo Dudamel’s inspiring vision is that music is a fundamental right for all. The National Take a Stand Festival enables us to further this goal and bring together different cultures and communities aligned by shared values of music and social responsibility,” said Deborah Borda, president and CEO, Los Angeles Philharmonic Association.

World-renowned conductors, guest artists and master teachers will bring their artistry and mentorship to students from underserved communities across the United States who have been learning in El Sistema-influenced programs.

By offering young people the opportunity to learn from exceptional musicians, become ambassadors of their programs, and for many travel out of state for the first time, the project aims to develop a model for excellence and a national community of citizen musicians from historically excluded populations in the United States.

The National Take a Stand Festival is a three-year project that will begin in 2015 with a teacher training and pilot program, followed by the formation of regional youth orchestra camps in 2016, culminating in a seven-day national youth orchestra camp in 2017, fea­­turing a final performance led by LA Philharmonic Music Director Gustavo Dudamel.

An international team of top teachers, working together with faculty from the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Longy School of Music of Bard College, Aspen Music Festival and School and Venezuela’s FundaMusical, will lead the youth orchestra camps.

Robert Spano, Music Director of the Aspen Music Festival and School, and Leon Botstein, President of Bard College and Music Director of the American Symphony Orchestra, will conduct the groups as part of the regional youth orchestras’ final performances in 2016.

Students will not only have access to top artistic and educational resources, but will experience some of the world’s finest learning institutions and concert venues such as Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, Bard College’s Fisher Center, and Aspen Music Festival’s Benedict Music Tent.

Since being introduced to the U.S. in 2006, El Sistema has taken root in more than 60 underserved communities across the country and engages more than 10,000 students.