At the Harmony Program, music changes lives every day. Through collective music-making, children from under-served communities explore new avenues and realize their full potential.

For over 15 years, the Harmony Program has distinguished itself by serving children in need, reaching them within their own communities, providing them with instruments and intensive, high quality musical training, and helping to develop in them the life skills that support their healthy development — musically, academically, and socially. The Harmony Program also recruits and trains accomplished musicians as its teaching artists and provides them with formal professional development training, observation and evaluation, access to a network of their peers, and competitive compensation for their services, with the goal of instilling in them a long-term commitment to community outreach and education.

The Harmony Program is inspired by Venezuela’s national youth orchestra system, “El Sistema.” Committed to improving society through music, El Sistema has gained international acclaim for the breadth of its reach, the quality of its musicians, and the power of its positive influence on the young lives it touches. In the spirit of El Sistema, the Harmony Program emphasizes the influence of music-making on social development, encourages learning through ensemble playing, fosters a supportive community for program participants and families, and requires of all involved a high degree of commitment to daily music study.

The 2025 inaugural Harmony Program Teaching Artist Fellowship is a highly selective, year-long engagement for emerging music educators interested in strengthening their teaching skills and expanding their professional networks and opportunities. In addition to a $1,500 honorarium, Fellows will receive over 20 hours of training from experts in the fields of music performance, education, youth development, and psychology as well as classroom teaching experience and access to professional networking.

Eligible Fellowship candidates will meet the following criteria:

• Be graduate students in their final year of study in either music education or performance during the 2025-26 academic year
• Have a minimum of one year of experience in the field of music education, either as student-teachers, classroom teachers, or private instructors.
• Have demonstrated interest in community outreach/engagement and/or youth development, via coursework, volunteer activities, or employment
• Have strong work ethic, personable demeanor, a willingness to learn, and an enthusiasm for the creative exchange of ideas
• Reside in New York City and pass city and state background checks.
• Have plans to remain in New York after graduation.
• Commit to attending required workshops

Required Application Materials

• Resume
• Personal statement (200-500 words)
• Sample lesson plan
• Two professional references

Application Process
Interested applicants should submit their application through the Harmony Program website. Five applicants will be invited to be fellows, and five applicants will be placed on a waitlist. The selection timeline is below:

• Applications closed: March 31st.
• Applications reviewed and interviews conducted: April 1st- 30th.
• Notification of acceptance: May 1st
• Fellowship start: October 2025

Candidates should submit their application via the Harmony Program website. No walk-ins or phone calls, please.