Fé y Allegria -Hope and Joy- is a new nucleo in the gorgeous Andes mountains just outside of Mérida. Visiting this site, I thought about a conversation I had with Rodrigo Guerrero, of FundaMusical in Caracas. “El Sistema has created an entire middle class of musicians that didn’t exist before,” he remarked. There are now thousands of people employed in established schools all over the country, and when students graduate from these institutions there are job opportunities waiting for them. Forty years ago, none of this even existed. Music has changed the economic landscape of Venezuela in just a handful of decades.  Through El Sistema, the future of Venezuela holds much hope and joy.