Constesting the symbolic order: child and youth orchestras in Argentina

Abstract

A large number of child and youth orchestras represent initiatives whereby music is taught through orchestral training, focusing on populations in situations of vulnerability. Projects with similar characteristics exist throughout the world, yet this field is far from homogeneous. The specificity of the Argentinean scenario is characterized by the large number of projects being implemented, their diversity and dynamics. The present article describes and reflects on two state-managed programs / projects for child and youth orchestras, focusing specifically on their coordinators’ perspectives: The Social Program “Andres Chazarreta” (National Ministry of Culture) and the Child and Youth Orchestras Project (Ministry of Education of the City of Buenos Aires). I suggest that although these initiatives involve different designs and lines of action, they both contribute, from their different paradigms, to destabilize a symbolic order that fosters relations of inequality and exclusion.