BERKLEE & EA MUSIC PARTNER ON NEW SCHOLARSHIP

The Berklee College of Music Screen Scoring Department and EA Music are partnering on The EA/Berklee Next Gen Scholarship. Each semester, one qualified woman or non-cisgender composer studying screen scoring will receive financial relief and the opportunity to be mentored by an industry-leading team to learn how its members compose, orchestrate and arrange an original score for an EA video-game title. The scholarship recipient will be announced at "EA Day," an annual event beginning this spring.

"Our collaboration with Berklee is the latest in a series of EA initiatives designed to inspire the next generation to pursue STEAM-based careers," said EA Music Worldwide Executive & President Steve Schnur, referring to the disciplines of science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics. “Music composition is traditionally a very male-dominated sector, with the recent USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative finding that women currently represent only 1.7% of composers in screen music, and the ratio of male composers to female composers is 18.3 to 1.

"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-game industry. We look forward to our continued role in developing a new generation of women composers."

Added Berklee Screen Scoring Department Chair Sean McMahon, “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.”

Nami Melumad, Chanda Dancy and Oscar winner Hildur Gudnadóttir are a few of the women participating in the inaugural "EA Day."

In a related story, Steve continues to ignore our offer to develop our website into the game franchise WEASELFEST.