String Training and Educational Program for Students of Color was founded in 1982 to help diversify the classical music profession at a time when sensibilities were heightened by exacerbated race relations in Boston. Sponsored by the BSO, BU’s College of Fine Arts, NE Conservatory, and Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras, STEP is a national leader in talent search and training programs for black and Hispanic children, for the long-term health of the field. They focus on strings because that’s where the most jobs are. The Program actually has two steps: FOCUS, a kindergarten music enrichment program in Boston public and parochial schools, identifies 80 talented students each year, and gives the best of them a summer introduction to stringed instruments; then STEP provides instruction, performance opportunities, and various enhancements (concert tickets, master classes, career counseling, encouragement of family support, etc.). Over 150 students have completed the program, and all have gone on to college or conservatory; many have entered the music profession—those with other talents find they are enhanced by the STEP experience. So if you like excellence, you will enjoy supporting STEP.