Berklee's Annual High School Jazz Festival March 13, 2010

Our annual jazz festival, the largest of its kind in the United States is scheduled for Saturday, March 13, 2010. You can find out more here at the homepage for the event.

Department of Education Simplifies the FAFSA

The financial aid form for Federal aid has often been described as too complex. The government recently announced some significant changes and improvements. You can learn more, here.

New York City Berklee Auditions January 23 - 26, 2010

We'll have our annual 4 days of auditions in NYC this month (January 23 - 26) and lots of other places in the months ahead! Details on the audition process can be found here: http://www.berklee.edu/admissions/general/audition_dates.html

Berklee President Roger Brown's Statement On Haiti

A Message from President Roger H. Brown


We are deeply saddened by the devastating earthquake and the tragic loss of life that has stricken Haiti. We are contacting the Berklee students who are from Haiti to see if we can be of direct assistance. We know the tragedy has touched at least one of our students, whose mother is missing; he is currently there trying to find her. If you learn of others affected, please let the Office of Student Affairs know so we can offer those students support and help.

As you may know, Wyclef Jean is also currently enrolled as a student, and we have made a donation on behalf of the whole college to the Yéle Haiti Earthquake Fund, which is now a part of Wyclef's Haitian charity organization.

Many of you know that we collaborated with Mercy Corps during the Darfur relief effort, and that my wife Linda Mason serves as chairman of their board of directors. I enclose the links to both Yéle and Mercy Corps in the event that you would like to help directly. Finally, we are in the process of pulling together a benefit event to raise money for Haitian relief.

We send our thoughts and prayers to Haiti, and on behalf of all Haitians hope that the focus on this crisis remains strong for the long months ahead.

Yéle Haiti Earthquake Fund: yele.org
Mercy Corps: mercycorps.org

Yours,


Roger H. Brown
President

Welcome Entering Students - Spring 2010!

We're very excited to welcome almost 350 new students from around the US and the world who are entering this term. Classes start next week but in the meantime, don't forget to check out the Orientation webpage that has a lot of great information for you: http://www.berklee.edu/orientation/orientation_spring.html

One Semester Ends, And Another Begins

Having just concluded the fall semester, Berklee is closed until January 4, 2010. We expect more than 325 new students to enter the College for the Spring semester and that our total enrollment will continue to be above 4,000. We're very excited to welcome our new students when spring orientation begins January 12. Our academic calendar is here, for those interested.

Happy New Year!

Berklee In Tel Aviv for A&I

Reposted from Berklee-Blogs:

After a 4-hour layover in Frankfurt, we arrived safely in Tel Aviv and made our way to the Melody Hotel. This is part of a larger strategicplan to stay only in hotels that have names associated with music (;JK). We just know there is a mixolydian or phrygian hotel out there somewhere. I am traveling with Greg Badolato VP International Programs, David Mash VP Technology Resources(who is accompanied by his wife Erica) and Myra Hindus VP Cultural Diversity. This is the first stop in a 3 city tour that will include Ramallah and Amman. Our hosts arranged a welcome dinner on Sunday night. It is now Monday morning and we will have our first meeting with the Rimon administration this morning.

It is always a wonderful experience to visit our friends in Tel Aviv. We are certain to meet students that are performing at the highest level and we will give a presentation later today to discuss preparing for Berklee’s audition and interview. Our partners at Rimon shared with us the surge in students that want to pursue songwriting as their major and we look forward to hearing what they have to offer.

Damien Bracken,
Dean of Admissions