We recently connected with Yalyen Savignon and have shared our conversation below.

Yalyen, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about serving the underserved.

I am proud to serve as president and CEO of Volta Music Foundation. I have been able to interact and serve students from underserved communities in South Florida and Latin America. I have found that every community I connect with through Volta lacks access to music education or performance at a level where the connection is made to improve the community. With my travels to Latin America, I have found a certain level of understanding and opportunities to learn music; however, I continue finding lack of resources and professional development for students and teachers. Within the US, I have found several underserved communities from the perspective of socioeconomic disadvantages. Music has been, for so many generations, a craft that only the elite had access to. However, I am able to reach several communities that were not even accepted or introduced for several generations to much learning and performance and include them equitably in the craft.
As I have grown in my title and position within the organization, I have found several other demographics that lack access to music engagement not because of financial limitations but of social, health, or cognitive limitations. I have grown to understand that giving access to these demographics is primal as we grow a larger supportive community of the arts.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I started playing the violin when I was seven years old in Havana, Cuba. I found an immense love for the instrument right away. Growing up, I was always finding new experiments to make with my instrument, making arrangements for violin duos, string ensembles, and any other combination I could think of. I found myself always aspiring to create something of my own. The lack of resources and opportunities in my home country really drove me to create my own . Fast forward to my Master’s Degree at Carnegie Mellon, I decided I wanted to establish a nonprofit to serve communities where young musicians could access resources, performing, and learning opportunities never presented to them before.
Volta Music Foundation was founded in 2018, and I have continued traveling to different countries and communities where I can connect with young students, teachers, and musicians and bring something of value to share with them. We call it Cultural Exchange, which flourishes in several programs. One of my proudest programs is EMA, which stands for E-Music Academy. In essence, this program started in 2020 while everyone was in lockdown, and I started to drop off violins, violas, cellos, and double basses to children’s homes. The program began with a small group of 30 students learning music virtually. We have seen students who started with us back then perform with string ensembles, perform at masterclasses, and even travel to Carnegie Hall to perform with their school orchestra. I am beyond words with what we accomplished in such a moment of despair and uncertainty. Nowadays, we are offering this program to homeschooled students, students who participate in School orchestra clases, or who seek music learning as a hobby or a career choice. The level ranges and the ages grow with our offering. It is a program that I am proud of because we can connect with students anywhere in the country and still serve them through music.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

During my years of studies at Carnegie Mellon, I was accepted to perform for a summer at Grant Park Music Festival. This was an incredible opportunity for me as a young music student to be able to perform with a professional orchestra at such a grand venue and fantastic city. I had a blast performing and engaging with such passionate musicians, but one day I got asked what I saw myself doing 5 years from that day, And my answer was, ” I would like to be the Director of an organization that would provide music learning and performing opportunities to others in Latin America and in the US, and I hope I can still perform at a high level while traveling and working with the organization. Some people in the room thought that was to dream of; however, at the end of the summer job, I found myself traveling to Florida to visit my family and friends, and I decided I would not wait five years for that to come true. I called one of my friends and supporters and asked if he could join my Board of Directors. I was going to start a not-for-profit. He responded with a quick yes, and the rest was history. To Rene Males, my first supporter with Volta, Thank you!

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Definitely listening to our customers, families, and students has been a great starting point for growing our community. Understanding their limitations and points of interest and surveying them in person rather than sending a paper survey has been an opportunity to connect, learn, and brainstorm. I have also learned from competitors and other business owners that their struggles may be similar to mine, and hearing the opinions on certain issues, such as marketing, branding, and product creation, has helped me create effective strategies to grow our client and family database.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://voltamusicfoundation.org/ema
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/voltamusicfoundation/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VoltaMusicFoundation
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/volta-music-foundation/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgk4Cf2m0IQap7LkBHJI1Q

Image Credits

Aaron Bristol
Marz/Sim
Laura Wilson