Two performing arts education actors in the US, Berklee and The Boston Conservatory, have formally agreed to merge, creating a comprehensive and dynamic training ground for music, dance, theater, and related professions.
Following unanimous approval by each institution’s board of trustees, the merger agreement will be signed in a public celebration today, January 20, at the Berklee Performance Center.
The provisions of the merger are the result of a six-month period of exploration undertaken by the two schools after signing a June 2015 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). Input was gathered from many key institutional stakeholders, including faculty, staff, students, parents, alumni, and industry leaders. The combined institution, located in Boston’s historic Back Bay and Fenway neighborhoods, will be known as Berklee, with the Conservatory becoming The Boston Conservatory at Berklee.
Over the next five years, the new institution will make significant investments in new program development, business process review, capital improvements, and communications.
The merger will allow both schools to leverage their individual strengths in co-designing new courses and hybrid programs not possible elsewhere. These new offerings will give Boston Conservatory students enhanced access to Berklee’s leading studies in improvisation and contemporary music, technology, music business, music therapy, sound design, production, film scoring, and online education. Likewise, Berklee students will benefit from access to the Conservatory’s expertise in classical music, opera, dance, movement, acting, and musical theater.
The merger also allows for the creation of new summer and study abroad programs at the Berklee campus in Valencia, Spain, which is housed in the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia, the city’s iconic opera house.
