In this article, the author talks about Venezuela's national youth orchestra program called El Sistema whose attributes offer a direct challenge to traditional Western music practices. As U.S. classical music--and all "high arts"--struggle to find relevance to more than the small "arts club" percentage of the U.S. populace, El Sistema proposes answers that can change not only the life trajectories of at-risk children but the trajectory of at-risk arts culture. Here, the author argues that to successfully duplicate Venezuela's national youth orchestra program in the U.S. one must import much more than structure and curriculum. He proposes four ways in which El Sistema gains its power from less visible factors and wisdom accrued in its 35 years. He provides a description of these four separate (but not discrete) ideas: (1) sustaining the dynamic tension between polarities; (2) the inquiry of continual improvement; (3) embodying the mission; and (4) the power of beauty, craft, and community, and introduces one perspective that brings them all together.