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| Berklee and Boston Conservatory to Explore Merger A Letter from President Roger H. Brown: Dear members of the Berklee community, Berklee President Roger H. BrownI am pleased to announce that The Boston Conservatory and Berklee College of Music have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to explore a merger of our two institutions. In support of Berklee's vision for 2025 to "transform the future of music education, " our two institutions will work together to reimagine 21st century music and performing arts education, and to create the best possible educational environment to prepare our students to succeed in their careers. Agreed to in the MOU is that the name of the combined institution, should we finalize the merger, would be "Berklee, " with the conservatory known as "The Boston Conservatory at Berklee." My role would be to serve as president of the combined institution. Conservatory President Richard Ortner is a trusted friend and colleague whom I've known since he first welcomed me as president of Berklee in 2004. With our neighboring institutions and shared commitment to music and arts education, we continually look for ways to collaborate. For example, Conservatory and Berklee students share dining facilities, a number of faculty teach at both institutions, students regularly perform together in concerts and ensembles, and the institutions share campus security operations. The college and the conservatory also have a shared history as founding members of the ProArts Consortium and the Boston Arts Academy, and through the consortium, students can cross-register for classes. This MOU serves as a way to explore deeper collaboration. The Boston Conservatory was founded in 1867—making it the oldest performing arts conservatory in the country—and has divisions in music, dance, and theater. The dance program was recently ranked number one in the country in contemporary dance, and number four overall, by OnStage. Alumni of the Musical Theater Department have received dozens of Tony Award nominations, and in 2013, a Conservatory alumni was a cast member in nearly every Tony-nominated production. And the Music Department has established itself as a leader in new classical music composition. Leading up to the MOU, a number of constituencies and individuals were engaged to share their knowledge and insight. Among these were Conservatory program directors; Berklee's deans and members of the chair group who have conservatory background, including Arnold Friedman, Kim Perlak, and David Wallace; Berklee AFT Chapter President Jackson Schultz; selected faculty—some of whom teach at both institutions—including Prince Charles Alexander, Marti Epstein, Jonathan Holland, Gus Sebring, and Eric Stern; and membership from leadership teams and boards at both institutions. Under discussion was how this partnership could create a unique 21st century educational experience that would prepare students for successful careers. The overwhelming opinion is that Conservatory students would benefit from access to Berklee's stylistic diversity, music technology, and entrepreneurship and business programs, while Berklee students' access to dance, movement, theater, and conservatory training would expand their educational experience in key areas. All students would benefit from the shared community, comprehensive curriculum, and our deep music and performing arts culture. The key word here is "explore." While the team who formed the MOU sees enormous educational benefits for students, there are clearly many questions about what a combined institution will look like. As a community, we will take the next several months to explore, debate, and consider all the possibilities and complexities of merged operations. To accomplish this, steering committees with representatives from both institutions will be formed to study the academic and operational implications. These committees will include a master steering committee chaired by David Mash with leadership from each institution, as well as committees focused on academic strategy, administrative strategy, enrollment, communications, advancement, creative collaboration, and cultural integration. As these are formed, we will engage our entire community for participation. We will hold a town hall meeting at 1:00 p.m. on Monday, June 29 at the Berklee Performance Center. I hope you can join me as we begin our exploration. Personally, I feel this is a tremendous opportunity for Berklee to take leadership in the creation of a new model of education for the 21st century musician and performing artist, and I am energized to do the hard work to envision and realize this for our current and future students. Sincerely, Roger H. Brown, President Berklee College of Music write your comments about the article :: © 2015 Jazz News :: home page |