Berklee College & Electronic Arts Music Announce ‘Next Gen’ Scholarship

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Steve Schnur, Worldwide Executive & President at EA Music and Nashville resident

The Screen Scoring Department at Berklee College of Music and Electronic Arts Music have partnered on a new EA/Berklee Next Gen Scholarship.

The new scholarship will, each semester, offer one qualified woman or non-cisgender composer studying in the Screen Scoring Department the chance to not only receive financial aid but also 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 Spring 2023 that will bring notable guest speakers and Electronic Arts/EA Music executives to the Boston campus. The scholarship and mentorship program will empower deserving women to enter the industry with a practical understanding of what goes into composing an original video game score, a list of top-level professional contacts, as well as an understanding of working relationships.

“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 & President at EA Music, and Nashville resident. “Music composition is traditionally a very male-dominated sector, with a recent USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative finding that women currently represent only 1.7% of composers in screen music, and the gender 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 games industry. We look forward to our continued role in developing a new generation of women composers”

Lorie Hollabaugh
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