Pathways Part 2: Looking to the Future

Dear members of the Berklee community,

Pathways Part 1 (2017-2020) sets a bold direction for the institution’s future by positioning Berklee as the global leader in arts education, driven by a student-centered focus, entrepreneurial spirit, inclusive culture, reimagined student services, the integration of transformational new technologies, and a career opportunity network. We will accomplish all of this with the talent, dedication, and creative energy of our entire community, as we have done successfully many times since our founding.

Our strategic plans over the last 10 years have led to major accomplishments that demonstrate our arts education leadership. We completed the 160 Massachusetts Avenue building in the heart of our campus, vastly improving student life, dining, and recording facilities; and we also made significant improvements to 150 Massachusetts Avenue. Demand for Berklee programs continues to grow with record applications and increasing selectivity. The online program now offers a bachelor’s degree program serving more than 1,000 students, and is about to launch master’s degree programs. Scholarship support for students has increased dramatically from $15.6 million to $44.7 million. We launched graduate and study abroad programs at a new campus in Valencia, Spain. We created institutes for global jazz, American roots music, and creative entrepreneurship; offer programs in Spanish through Berklee Latino programs; created free massive online enrollment courses (MOOCS) serving more than a million students; and launched a program for visually impaired students. We completed our first-ever capital campaign, which exceeded the $50 million objective, posting a total of $54.5 million and launched a $100 million campaign, now at more than $87.5 million with nearly two years remaining. Most significantly, the merger of Berklee and Boston Conservatory provides us with a truly unique opportunity to create an educational and entrepreneurial environment that will inspire a new generation of creators and innovators in the arts, society, and business.

All of these initiatives contribute to meaningful outcomes for our students: a better and deeper student experience though enhanced facilities and systems, graduation rates that have improved by 10 percent in 10 years, and an expanded array of options of career opportunities in the creative industries and beyond. In addition to the many successful alumni working in the traditional music industry, Berklee graduates are now making their mark at tech giants such as Apple, Facebook, and Google, and at a wide range of startups and venture-funded companies in the technology, healthcare, and other leading edge sectors.

The promise of this strategic plan for 2017-2020 is the capacity it creates to open up flexible educational pathways across college, online, conservatory, Valencia, study abroad, internship, institute, and international partner programs. Furthermore, it can inspire and support our community to create new works, programs, and products that help launch the careers of our students, promote the work of our faculty, staff, and alumni, and catalyze innovation across the creative and media industries.

As we work to realize the goals of Pathways Part 1, we will look ahead to how we can use these new capacities to form strategies for 2020-2023 that will inspire and ignite the extraordinary possibilities and applications of contemporary music and the performing and creative arts on the global society and industry.

Panos A. Panay
Vice President for Innovation and Strategy