What the Venezuela Youth Orchestra has achieved is remarkable. Since the 1970s, the system has served the needs of some half million kids, most of them from disadvantaged backgrounds. In the process, Simón Bolívar has helped remake the culture of Venezuela. He has turned poverty into hope and has produces a generation of new leaders who have in turn gone on to remake the country. This concept of leadership development is important to a society. True, some people are born leaders, but even these individuals need platform with which to utilize their talents and succeed. Bolivar’s system provides that platform. Most important, however, leaders can be made and this is what the youth orchestra has done. It takes kids out of poverty, give them