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Amplify Berklee Gala Raises $1.3 Million for Berklee City Music Scholarships

05/11/2024

Amplify Berklee Gala Raises $1.3 Million for Berklee City Music Scholarships This year's event featured a dance party with DJ Jazzy Jeff and performances from the Berklee City Music Ensemble and alumni Brian Kennedy, Lea Grace Swinson, Kieran Rhodes, and more.

By

Colette Greenstein

November 4, 2024

DJ Jazzy Jeff spinning at the Amplify Berklee gala.

Image by Dave Green

Lea Grace Swinson BM '21 performs at the Amplify Berklee gala.

Image by Dave Green

Kieran Rhodes BM '24 performs at the Amplify Berklee gala.

Image by Dave Green

Left to right: David Bogen, interim president and provost; Krystal Banfield, vice president, education outreach and social entrepreneurship; hip-hop legend DJ Jazzy Jeff; Jim Lucchese, Berklees incoming president; Ron Savage, vice president and executive director, Berklee College of Music; Michael Shinn, executive director, Boston Conservatory at Berklee; Betsy Newman, interim executive vice president and senior vice president, student enrollment and engagement

Image by Dave Green

Berklee raised $1.3 million for the Berklee City Music program at its annual gala, Amplify Berklee, which took place on Saturday, November 2, at the Westin Copley Place, Boston.

Pioneering DJ, rapper, producer, actor, and entrepreneur DJ Jazzy Jeff, renowned for his versatility, innovative turntablism, and pivotal role in shaping the hip-hop genre, was this year's special guest. The gala also featured four-time Grammy Award-winning pianist and producer and City Music ambassador Brian Kennedy 93; Grammy Award-winning percussionist and Berklee professor Eguie Castrillo and his acclaimed Salsa Orchestra; Tia Fuller, a Grammy-nominated recording artist, saxophonist, professor, and artistic director of Berklee's Ensemble Department, who led the Michael Jackson Ensemble; City Music alumna Lea Grace Swinson BM 21, who was one of the featured artists in the Berklee City Music Ensemble; singer-songwriter Kieran Rhodes, a recent Berklee graduate who gained viral fame with his audition on season 17 of NBC's Americas Got Talent; and the award-winning, coed a cappella group Upper Structure, who returned for a second straight year.

Proceeds from Amplify Berklee support scholarships for Berklee City Music students, a global network that enables youth from underserved communities to develop musically, academically, socially, and emotionally, primarily through the study of contemporary music and the performing arts. This year, the program celebrates its 31st anniversary.

Since 1993, Berklee City Music has awarded 283 full-tuition college scholarships, totaling over $33 million. More than 2,000 students from the Berklee City Music Network have attended Berklees Aspire: Five-Week Music Performance Intensive on City Music Summer Scholarships. The Berklee City Music Network is currently made up of 46 sites across the United States, Latin America, and Canada, serving more than 60,000 students in the past year alone. Berklee City Music has served over 500,000 students across the network through preparatory and high school academies, and through summer and full-tuition scholarships, since the program's inception.

The gala was sponsored by Abrams Capital, Aramark, Boston Celtics Shamrock Foundation, Bill and Kelly Kaiser, Berklee Board of Trustees Chair Martin and Tristin Mannion, New Balance Foundation with committee chairs Preetha and Mammen Chally, Jessica and Tim Donohue, Sandhya S. and Craig S. Douglas, and Alison and Richard Vieira.

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Jim Lucchese

Image by Kelly Davidson

Jim Lucchese Named Berklee's Fifth President A 20-year music industry veteran and a committed artist advocate with deep Berklee roots, Lucchese sets the tone for a new era at the institution.

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Lizzy McAlpine '20 performs with Tiny Habits at NPRs Tiny Desk. Left to right: Judah Mayowa, Maya Rae, Lizzy McAlpine, Cinya Khan.

Image by Bob Boilen/NPR

The Best Tiny Desks by Berklee Artists (an Incomplete List) From Big Thief and Lizzy McAlpine to DOMi & JD Beck, Kenny Beats, Arooj Aftab, and more, Berklee acts have always owned the Tiny Desk stage.

(L-R): Berklee student guitarist Andre DR3 Harris; Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter and Berklee alum Ashton Riker; Professor and Chair of Music Business/Management Tonya Butler; rapper and award-winning songwriter and producer Al Kapone; Berklee student drummer Andrew DRIZZ Harris; and singer, songwriter, and musician Singa B at the 18th annual Business of Hip-Hop Music Symposium.

Image courtesy of Berklees Music Business/Management Department

Memphis Rapper Al Kapone Brings Blues Education to Berklee He was the featured guest at the 18th annual Business of Hip-Hop Music Symposium.

Americana artist and Berklee student Kyle Ray conceptualized the Blue Ridge Benefit Concert: In Support of Hurricane Helene Relief Efforts on November 20.

Kelly Davidson

Berklee to Hold Blue Ridge Benefit Concert for Hurricane Helene Relief Efforts The event, featuring headliners Langhorne Slim and Kashus Culpepper, takes place on Wednesday, November 20, at Brighton Music Hall.

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