Berklee and Electronic Arts Announce Next Gen Scholarship Program

Berklee and Electronic Arts Announce Next Gen Scholarship Program The new partnership will establish an annual scholarship and mentorship program.

By

Tori Donahue

February 2, 2023

Acclaimed composer Hildur Gudnad ttir will be a guest speaker at the inaugural EA Day at Berklee.

Image by Camille Blake

The Screen Scoring Department at Berklee College of Music and EA Music have announced a partnership that will enable greater equity in the entertainment industry and world of screen scoring. The EA/Berklee Next Gen Scholarship will, each semester, offer one qualified woman or non-cisgender composer studying in the Screen Scoring Department the chance to not only receive a financial scholarship but the opportunity to be mentored by an industry-leading team and learn how they compose, orchestrate, and arrange an original score for an EA video game title.

This is an exciting moment for the Screen Scoring Department and Berklee as a whole, said Sean McMahon, department chair. We are constantly striving to provide the best possible education for our students to attain personal and professional success. With this scholarship and mentorship program, Berklee and EA Music will collaborate on a vital initiative that allows the selected women to succeed, learn, and enter the world of composing with support from one of the most forward-thinking companies in interactive entertainment.

The scholarship recipient will be announced at EA Day, an annual event beginning with the spring 2023 semester that will bring notable guest speakers including acclaimed composers and Electronic Arts and EA Music executives to the Boston campus. The scholarship and mentorship program will enable deserving women to graduate with more than just a degree; it will also empower them to enter the industry with a practical background of what goes into composing an original video game score, a list of top-level professional contacts, and an understanding of working relationships. The EA/Berklee Next Gen Scholarship commences a relationship that celebrates EA Music and Berklee's commitment to gender inclusion, and a fundamental continuation of their roles as global leaders of music's multicultural excellence.

Our collaboration with Berklee is the latest in a series of EA initiatives designed to inspire the next generation to pursue STEAM-based careers, says Steve Schnur, worldwide executive and president at EA Music. Music composition is traditionally a very male-dominated sector, with a recent USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative finding that women currently represent only 1.7 percent of composers in screen music, and the gender ratio of male composers to female composers is 18.3 to one. We must work together to change this-and fast. We hope this partnership will provide the women who take part with an incredible learning opportunity and remind them of the variety of roles available to them in the video games industry. We look forward to our continued role in developing a new generation of women composers.

About Electronic Arts Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: EA) is a global leader in digital interactive entertainment. The company develops and delivers games, content, and online services for internet-connected consoles, mobile devices, and personal computers.

In fiscal year 2022, EA posted GAAP net revenue of approximately $7 billion. Headquartered in Redwood City, California, EA is recognized for a portfolio of critically acclaimed, high-quality brands such as EA Sports, FIFA, Battlefield, Apex Legends, The Sims, Madden NFL, Need for Speed, Titanfall, Plants vs. Zombies, and F1. More information about EA is available at ea.com/news.

EA Sports, Battlefield, Need for Speed, Apex Legends, The Sims, Titanfall, and Plants vs. Zombies are trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. All rights reserved. John Madden, NFL, FIFA and F1 are the property of their respective owners and used with permission.

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Berklee and Electronic Arts Announce Next Gen Scholarship Program The new partnership will establish an annual scholarship and mentorship program.

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