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Home > WCO 2004 > NYC Events > Winners Profile |
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Award Winners Profile |
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Total : 2team
Creative Arts : 1team
Humanitarian Service : 1team
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Dr. Antonio Jose Abreu (Venezuela)
Creative Arts Award Winner
In 1975, Antonio Jose Abreu founded the National Symphony Youth Orchestra in Venezuela. Today 130,000 young people take part in a national system of 180 orchestras and a network of choirs. The orchestral system is explicitly oriented toward children of low-income families and has been credited with contributing to social integration in Venezuela. Studies have shown that orchestra participants perform better in other areas of academic and social life. Abreu's efforts have inspired similar initiatives in other Latin American countries. The social benefits of the orchestra system have been immense in Venezuela. The Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra, the culmination of the national system, has performed widely in other nations and has been hailed as the best ensemble of its kind in the world. Educational, cultural and government institutions have honored Abreu for his efforts. In nominating Abreu for the World Culture Open award, Mark Churchill, dean of the New England Conservatory in Bo ston, called the universal appeal of the orchestra system to Venezuelans a beacon for hope in this troubled world.  |
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Orcamento Participativo (Brazil)
Humanitarian Service Award Winner
Sao Paulo is Brazil's largest city, with 10.7 million inhabitants, many of whom are desperately poor. Orcamento Participativo fosters dialogue between the government and the people and widens the reach of democracy in the sprawling metropolis. Government has been decentralized into 31 regional bodies designed to nourish grass-roots initiative. Orcamento Participativo seeks to end the marginalization of huge parts of the population, allowing the voices of "vulnerable social sectors" to be heard by government. Defined sectors of the population - women, blacks, seniors, children, adolescents, gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transsexuals, natives and homeless citizens - can build their own leadership in their own participatory process. Already, the youth-adolescent sector has won its own representation and plans to develop an informal learning environment. Students will take part in assemblies and elections on issues important to them. Orcamento Participativo also plans to extend popular rights and liberties by improving the knowledge of its delegates and councilors through giving seminars, forums and classes. |
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