Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

For Berklee Artists and A&R Talent, a New Path to a Big Break

25/01/2022

For Berklee Artists and A&R Talent, a New Path to a Big Break Thanks to a new Career Center program, students are building their own pipeline to industry success.

By

Nick Balkin

January 24, 2022

Berklee artist Isa Ansin (right) performs at Brighton Music Hall.

Image by Lilly Patterson

Last fall, Berklee student Isa Ansin took the stage at Brighton Music Hall, a 500-capacity Boston venue booked mainly by national touring acts. As the first of two openers, her job was to warm up the crowd for indie-pop singer V rit , the show's headliner.

For most young artists, such a gig would serve as an early career milestone. For Ansin, who landed the booking with help from Berklee's new talent relations ambassador program, it was notable for another reason: it was the first time she'd ever performed her own music live. But you wouldn't know that based on the crowd's reaction. The show was so well-received that V rit invited Ansin to open for her again a few nights later, at New York City's Bowery Ballroom, covering Ansin's travel expenses and bumping her up to the lineup's second support slot, ensuring an even larger group of potential new fans to win over. The payoff was immediate: after the Brighton and Bowery shows, Ansin had gained hundreds of new Instagram followers.

It was crazy, said Ansin, who performs under the stage name Chrysalis. It was such an amazing experience, and the crowds, at both shows, were so welcoming it was honestly a really good reinforcement for me that writing music and performing my originals is what I want to do for the rest of my life.

Building a Talent Pipeline In terms of audience growth, few things move the needle like opening for a popular touring act. But with hundreds of artists vying for these coveted gigs, the chances of landing one, without connections or a proper strategy, can feel about as likely as winning the lottery.

Thanks to a new initiative from the Berklee Career Center, more student and alumni artists are snagging these in-demand support slots. The talent relations ambassador program, launched last fall as part of the Hire Berklee Talent campaign, is composed of student A&R scouts who identify, develop, and track talent within the Berklee community for specific performance, recording, writing, and producing opportunities. The current team-Lilly Patterson, Karissa Bone, Austyn Jones, Jordan Hall, and Daniel Ramos-represents an array of Berklee majors, from songwriting and production to business and musical theater.

Liza Levy

Image by Tyler Matthews

Patterson, who booked Ansin's show with V rit , seeks out Berklee artists who offer a balance to the headliner's style. She found Ansin through Berklee Connect (login required), a student and alumni directory where artists can upload unreleased music, videos, and other media. While [Ansin] didn't have any releases, and that definitely made me a little nervous, I really loved her artistry and personability, and so did V rit 's team, said Patterson. Isa is a lyrically captivating writer; she's literally a poet. I anticipated that her set would be super chill, which I thought would contrast and complement V rit 's more upbeat, danceable discography.

They're building a talent pipeline to the industry while helping to super-serve the needs of our employer partners, said the program's director, Liza Levy, talent relations manager for the Career Center.

The results speak for themselves, with ambassadors securing paid gigs for Berklee acts at major venues in the Boston area and beyond. In addition to Ansin's gigs with V rit , other program highlights have included Lindsay Whiteman, a seventh-semester student, opening for TikTok sensation JORDY at Brighton Music Hall; Jay Alan, a songwriting major, and Laura Danae, a graduate student at Berklee NYC, opening for Evan Giia B.M. '14, respectively, at the Sinclair (Boston) and Elsewhere (Brooklyn); and Cinya Khan, a professional music major, who's set to open for indie phenom Clairo at the House of Blues in Boston next month.

Theres nothing more powerful than listening to a student talk about why another students work is inspiring to them.

-Liza Levy, talent relations manager

Levy credits a recent student employee, Rehan Manickam B.M. '21, for sparking the idea behind the program. Rehan put me on to all of these Berklee artists, producers, and songwriters that were making incredible music. From there we started sharing this work with A&R execs, publishers, bookers, and managers in the industry, said Levy. Theres nothing more powerful than listening to a student talk about why another students work is inspiring to them. (After graduating, Manickam got a job working in A&R at Love Renaissance, the label home to Summer Walker, 6lack, and others.)

The program began to take shape last fall when Blythe Scokin, manager for Nashville singer-songwriter Ingrid Andress '13, proposed having a Berklee student open for Andress's upcoming Boston date. The benefits were two-fold: adding a student to the bill would help build an organic buzz on campus for the show, and Andress could give back to her alma mater by showcasing a developing artist.

Levy sent over a list of potential Berklee acts, and Scokin and Andress fell in love with an artist named Zoe Sparks, who opened the show and ended up attracting a ton of people to it. So we were like, this is interesting, we could take this whole structure and offer it to other artists-and it doesn't just have to be Berklee alumni, it could be any artist coming to Boston, said Levy. Then, if the pilot goes well, we can talk to managers about extending the campaign to New York and our Berklee NYC students.

Watch Zoe Sparks perform on Berklees Two Track series:

When pitching an opening act, there are many factors to
LINK: https://www.berklee.edu/berklee-now/news/for-berklee-artists-and-a-r-t...
See more stories from berklee

North America Stories

12/08/2026

Op-Ed: The Versioning Playbook - How Rights Holders are Getting More From Live Events

Traditional live sports production has focused on creating the best possible pro...

12/08/2026

IBC 2026: FOR-A to Demonstrate Production and Processing Solutions

FOR-A will showcase a range of broadcast and production products at IBC2026 (Stand 2.B53, Amsterdam RAI, September 11-14), including software-based switching, A...

12/08/2026

IBC 2026: AMWA and EBU to Demo NMOS BCP-008 Multi-Vendor IP Status Reporting

The Advanced Media Workflow Association (AMWA) and EBU will host live demonstrations of NMOS BCP-008 Minimum Status Reporting at IBC2026 (September 11-14) on th...

12/08/2026

IBC 2026: Dalet Launches Solution Suites for Media Production and Archive Management

Dalet has announced Dalet Solution Suites, a portfolio of cloud-native solutions...

12/08/2026

Net Insight Enables Centralized Remote Production of Blinkfestivalen 2026 for NRK

Net Insight has announced that DMC Production Norway has selected its Open Live ...

12/08/2026

Zixi Appoints Alyson Stewart as Senior Director of Sales

Zixi has appointed Alyson Stewart as Senior Director of Sales. Stewart will be responsible for direct sales and partnerships, with a focus on broadcasters, medi...

12/08/2026

LiveU Powers Host Broadcast Operations at 2026 Glasgow Games

LiveU's LU900Q intelligent production unit was deployed as part of the host broadcast operation for the Games in Glasgow (July 23-August 2, 2026). Host broa...

12/08/2026

Disney+ and ESPN Acquire Multi-Year Formula E Rights Beginning 2026/27 Season

Disney , ESPN, and Formula E have announced a multi-year deal bringing all Formula E races to Disney and ESPN in the U.S. and to Disney in most international...

12/08/2026

PSSI Launches X-LIVE Managed Service for Live Event Transmission

PSSI has launched X-LIVE, a managed service offering dedicated engineering resources and Appear encoding infrastructure for live event signal processing and tra...

12/08/2026

MoonPay X Games League Draws 18.3 Million Viewers in Inaugural Summer Season

The inaugural MoonPay X Games League Summer Season reached 18.3 million unique live viewers across three stops on ABC and ESPN, a 78.5% increase compared to the...

12/08/2026

IBC 2026: BBright Adds RIST Support to IP-Gateway

BBright will showcase an expanded IP-Gateway at IBC2026, adding support for all RIST profiles to its existing support for MPEG Transport Stream over IP with SMP...

12/08/2026

IBC 2026: BBright Adds EBU OGraf Graphics Support to UHD and ST 2110 Playout Platform

BBright will demonstrate EBU OGraf animated graphics support in its software-bas...

12/08/2026

Interra Systems to Showcase QC and Monitoring Solutions at SET Expo 2026

Interra Systems will demonstrate its ORION, BATON, BATON Captions, and VEGA solutions at SET Expo 2026 (August 17-20, Distrito Anhembi, S o Paulo) at partner Li...

12/08/2026

DPA Microphones Appoints Raul Contreras as West Coast Regional Sales Manager

DPA Microphones has appointed Raul Contreras as West Coast Regional Sales Manager. In the role, Contreras will oversee sales and customer relationships througho...

12/08/2026

Save the Date: SVG LIVE! Returns to LA Nov. 10 to Spotlight Sports & Entertainment Production

Live spectacles ranging from the Super Bowl and FIFA World Cup to the Oscars and...

12/08/2026

Love, Separation, and the Cost of Comfort in How to Divorce During the War

Writer-Director Andrius Bla evi ius and crew attend the premiere of How to Divorce During the War at The Ray Theatre on January 26, 2026, in Park City, UT. (P...

12/08/2026

Nielsen Introduces Groundbreaking Streaming Ad Measurement in Brazil

Nielsen is cementing Digital Ad Intel as the new go-to currency for digital ad intelligence in Brazil-now with streaming monitoring in the mix. S o Paulo, Augu...

12/08/2026

LPTV Advocates Petition FCC for Voluntary 5G Broadcasts

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/08/2026

Tubi Media Group Inks Content Discovery Deal with Gracenote

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/08/2026

Matrox Video Showcases IP-Based and Software-Defined Tech...

As Matrox Video celebrates 50 years of trusted innovation, the company will showcase its portfolio of interoperable IP technologies and software-defined innovat...

12/08/2026

SMPTE Showcases AI and Open Media Workflows and Industry...

SMPTE, the home of media professionals, technologists and engineers, today announced a program of expert-led sessions, professional workshops and networking eve...

12/08/2026

Berklee Announces Full Details for Inaugural Block Party, a Music Festival Next to Fenway Park

Berklee Announces Full Details for Inaugural Block Party, a Music Festival Next ...

12/08/2026

ACLU Requests ABC Station Probe Documents from FCC

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/08/2026

Roger Keating To Retire from Hearst Television

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/08/2026

Netflix Closes U.S. Upfronts, Nearly Doubles Ad Commitments

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/08/2026

CBS Pittsburgh Debuts New AR/VR News Studio

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/08/2026

Matthews Intros T-Go Extreme Rigging Solutions

Matthews Studio Equipment introduces T-Go Mounting Solutions extreme camera rigging systems, engineered for the most demanding environments in motion picture pr...

12/08/2026

Anton Bauers EDEN Becomes Only Mobile Power Station in it...

Anton/Bauer, a Videndum brand and the industry leader in mobile power solutions for broadcast and cinematic production, announces that the EDEN Mobile Power Sta...

12/08/2026

TAG Video Systems Cuts Hardware Costs for Customers with...

TAG Video Systems, the global leader in software-based IP monitoring and multiviewer solutions, today announced a memory usage optimization that lowers the tota...

12/08/2026

Unified Streaming Launches Trusted Media - C2PA in Dynami...

Unified Streaming announces Trusted Media, a new solution that enables broadcasters, streaming platforms, and premium content owners to attach verifiable authen...

12/08/2026

Tedial Powers the AI-Driven Media Supply Chain at IBC 202...

Combining intelligent automation, composable business services and user-centric experiences The media industry is entering a new phase where AI intelligence is...

12/08/2026

DPA Microphones Appoints Raul Contreras as West Coast Reg...

DPA Microphones welcomes Raul Contreras as its new West Coast Regional Sales Manager. In this role, Contreras will oversee sales and customer relationships thro...

12/08/2026

Weather is Not a Factor for Marshall Electronics New CV57...

Marshall Electronics' first all-weather, all-IP 4K POV camera, the CV574-WP, makes its European debut at IBC 2026 (Stand 10.C11). Built for the elements, th...

12/08/2026

A double off-switch helps cells respond to stress

LA JOLLA, CA-Scientists at Scripps Research have discovered that two seemingly unrelated cellular enzymes become locked together during times of stress, simulta...

12/08/2026

NVIDIA CEO Tops Glassdoor's 2026 List of Best CEOs

NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang is ranked No. 1 on Glassdoor's Best CEOs list for 2026. In the just-released ranking, recognition is earned directly fr...

11/08/2026

Apple To Bring Friday Night Baseball Live to Apple Immersive on Vision Pro Beginning Aug. 28

Weekly immersive broadcasts will feature 8K 3D video, a 180-degree field of view...

11/08/2026

Looking for a New Cameraperson? ProductionHUB Guide Lays Out Considerations, Pitfalls

By Briana Brady, Social Media Manager, Production Hub Sports content is having ...

11/08/2026

SVG Sit-Down: Backlight CEO Kathleen Barrett on Building Media Infrastructure for a Global, AI-Driven Sports Landscape

She addresses why media organizations need more than asset storage, how sports t...

11/08/2026

FloSports Dennis LeMire on Implementing Cloud-Based Workflows on Lower Tier Sports

Remote commentary has improved significantly on these broadcasts At a clip of ...

11/08/2026

Miami HEAT's Revamped IP-Based Control Room Coordinates Workflows With Meinberg Intelligent Modular Synchronization System

A pair of LANTIME IMS M2000 PTP Grandmasters deliver resilient timing infrastruc...

11/08/2026

LTN Expands Live Event Master Control Capabilities for Sports Organizations

LTN has announced expanded capabilities for its Live Event Master Control offering, providing sports broadcasters, leagues, rights holders, and content owners w...

11/08/2026

WTA Ventures Appoints IMG as Managed Production Services Partner

WTA Ventures has appointed IMG as its managed production services partner in a multi-year agreement commencing with the 2027 season. The partnership is the late...

11/08/2026

New York Jets and CBS New York Extend Multi-Year Partnership

The New York Jets and CBS New York have agreed to a multi-year extension of their partnership, keeping CBS New York as the official broadcast home of the team. ...

11/08/2026

Nielsen Acquires DoubleVerify to Create New Combined Media Intelligence Platform

Nielsen Holdings and DoubleVerify have announced a definitive agreement under which Nielsen will acquire DoubleVerify in an all-cash transaction with an enterpr...

11/08/2026

AES Elects David v.R. Bowles as President-Elect for 2027, Unveils Other Election Results

The Audio Engineering Society has announced the results of its 2026 Board of Dir...

11/08/2026

SVG Sit-Down Creator Sports Network's Barrick Prince on Building the Next Layer of the Live-Sports Rights Stack

The CSN co-founder details its network and affiliate' model, how creator wi...

11/08/2026

Gravity Media Providing Host Broadcast Operations for Esports World Cup 2026

Gravity Media is providing host broadcast operations for the Esports World Cup (EWC) 2026, supporting ESL FACEIT Group (EFG) in delivering the tournament to glo...

11/08/2026

TAG Video Systems Reduces Memory Requirements for Compressed Workflows

TAG Video Systems has released a memory usage optimization for its MCM software that reduces the cost per channel by up to two-thirds for compressed workflows. ...

11/08/2026

SMT Expands LED Production and Scoring Services at 2026 Cincinnati Open

SMT is expanding its technology partnership with the Cincinnati Open this year, adding new LED displays, production capabilities, and fan-facing experiences at ...

11/08/2026

Pac-12 to Stream Fall Olympic Sports Home Events Free on YouTube

The Pac-12 has announced that home Olympic sports broadcasts throughout the fall season will be available free on the conference's YouTube channel at youtub...