The program offers the opportunity to meet peers with the same mindset and learn from some of the best musicians and world-class professors around. Attendees also receive formal musical training, learn music theory, and study the art of performance, musicianship and ensemble playing.
Spending countless hours rehearsing and preparing their audition materials, we’ve had five students accepted to the program, with four receiving a City Music Scholarship, which pays for a portion of the program, with the rest funded by The Edge and thanks to amazing community donors and champions. Through the generous support of ELMA Philanthropies, one of our students received full scholarship funding.
Watching our youth go and come back from Berklee is a beautiful thing as they make long-lasting friendships, explore their disciplines and the music industry, along with getting a taste of college life.
Scroll below to meet our ME Berklee Hall of Famers!
Jose Hernandez
Rapper
Year Attended: 2015
Santi
Saxophone
Year Attended: 2016
Ines
Vocalist
Year Attended: 2017
Kaylee Torres
Vocalist
Year Attended: 2021 to present
Elma Philanthropies Scholarship Recipient
Jaramaya
Rapper
Year Attended: 2022
About Berklee City Music Network:
The Berklee City Music Network, an extension of the Berklee City Music organization, is a consortium of 47 community organizations across the United States, Canada, and Latin America that leverages the power of contemporary music to support youth from underserved communities in developing musically, academically, socially, and emotionally. Network sites operate independently in their respective communities, and share the same core values, curricula, and methodologies based on Berklee College of Music ideology. Each year, the Berklee City Music Network provides over 55,000 students with an unparalleled contemporary music education experience that fosters discipline, communication, teamwork, leadership skills, and a broader worldview.
Berklee City Music Network programs use culturally relevant music as a vehicle for holistic youth development. Participating students receive unique benefits that help them develop as both musicians and future community leaders. The Berklee PULSE® online music education platform enables students to study, jam, and practice using interactive modules and an ever-expanding collection of popular music—and gives teachers the professional development training they need to deliver Berklee-caliber education to students. Expert faculty, individualized mentoring, and a comprehensive curriculum encourages well-rounded development. Students can also apply for scholarships to attend the Berklee Aspire: Five-Week Music Performance Intensive, an immersive program offered by the college that enables young people to develop their skills with world-class faculty in state-of-the-art facilities along with musicians from more than 70 countries. Students also have the opportunity to apply for and receive the Berklee City Music Full-Tuition Scholarship to attend Berklee College of Music.
As a full BCMN member, The Edge is provided access to support and resources that help provide quality contemporary music education to our youth. Some of our students even have the opportunity to receive a City Music Summer Scholarship to attend the Berklee Five-Week Summer Performance Program, and a select few receive full-tuition scholarships to attend Berklee College of Music.
Berklee City Music offers two scholarships to attend Berklee programs. The City Music Summer Scholarship, which has been awarded to 5 Motivational Edge students, is a tuition scholarship to attend Berklee’s Aspire: Five-Week Music Performance Intensive.
Students in City Music have the opportunity to receive a full-tuition scholarship to Five-Week. This program allows students to immerse themselves in their chosen style and study with world-class faculty in a college setting. Five-Week is the largest, most comprehensive summer music program available anywhere. With its variety of study and performance options, world-class Berklee faculty, visiting artists, and state-of-the-art facilities, Five-Week has become the premiere contemporary summer music program for aspiring musicians. Students study performance, theory, musicianship, and ensemble playing, which is highlighted in an end-of-program blowout concert. The competitive Five-Week scholarships are awarded in the spring based on availability, an online application with supplemental forms, and an audition.
The opportunity offered is the City Music College Scholarship, available to eligible high-school seniors, is a partial- or full-tuition scholarship to Berklee College of Music; it’s a highly competitive merit- and need-based scholarship. The Motivational Edge has been fortunate to award one of their students with the full-tuition scholarship allowing the student to pursue her dreams of excelling in music as a career.
These opportunities are unique and invaluable experiences that go beyond being able to study with Berklee faculty and experience the Berklee curriculum firsthand, but allows them to immerse themselves in an environment with the most talented young musicians from around the world which proves to be musically, socially, and culturally motivating.