Dream Theater and the Berklee College of Music Announce the Creation of the Dream Theater Scholarship Fund
Dream Theater have a long history with the prestigious Berklee College of Music: the band was formed while guitarist John Petrucci, drummer Mike Portnoy, and bassist John Myung were all students at the school in the ’80s, and Portnoy’s successor, Mike Mangini was a Berklee drum professor for eleven years.
So it’s no surprise that the band wants to give back to the college. And give back they shall, according to this announcement:
“Berklee College of Music and Dream Theater announce the creation of the Dream Theater Scholarship Fund. In celebration of the band’s 35th anniversary, Dream Theater and Berklee are creating a fund that will provide scholarship money to student musicians in need on an ongoing basis through the future.”
The press release continues:
“Dream Theater hopes to continue their previous success with the Dream Theater Scholarship Fund. The fund will be headed by Berklee’s Mirek Vana, Global Development Officer / Executive Producer, and Frank Solomon, Dream Theater Manager, who together have worked over the past six years behind the scenes on the foundation of the Dream Theater Scholarship Fund. Berklee and Dream Theater are excited for the creation of the Scholarship and moving forward will be asking all members of both the Berklee and Dream Theater community to take part in the creation of this endowment to make the Scholarship a success.”
Says Berklee President Roger Brown of the scholarship:
“Dream Theater has been a tremendous influence on the progressive metal scene, achieving worldwide success for their dedication to excellence in music. The Dream Theater t-shirt has been the most popular item of apparel on our campus for years, and many students have chosen to come to Berklee as a result of the band’s legacy. We are so appreciative of Dream Theater’s support.”
Specific details of the scholarship (e.g., how much money is going to be made available) are not discussed in the announcement, but interested parties are encouraged to contact Mirek Vana at mvana AT berklee DOT edu.
I know I personally bust Dream Theater’s chops quite a bit (Vince is much more supportive), but only a total asshole wouldn’t commend the band for this classy move. So bravo, say I.
I will, however, point out something droll about the announcement of the fund — that being this passage:
“Dream Theater was formed while John Petrucci and John Myung (bassist) were students at Berklee 35 years ago.”
In the words of this fan…
So yeah that’s pretty funny.
