Universal Music Group and Herb Alpert School of Music of UCLA announced on Monday the creation of the Berry Gordy music industry, the last homonym of the school for the famous founder of Motown.
The scholarship occurs a little more than a year after the $ 5 million in Gordy helped to establish the Berry Gordy Music Industry Center of the UCLA last May. The new scholarship is designed for students in the music industry program in order to pay tuition fees, including tuition fees and housing. A student will be selected each year and the beneficiaries will be eligible for the scholarship over consecutive years according to financial needs.
“For over 65 years, the name of Berry Gordy has been synonymous with art and the transformative power of music,” said the president and chief executive officer of the UMG, Lucian Graige, in a press release. “Thanks to this scholarship, UMG honors its sustainable heritage by investing in a new generation of young people who will help advance this spirit – creators and Changmakers, who will have the opportunity to reflect innovation and entrepreneurial genius that Mr. Gordy helped to bring to the world through Motown, Tamla and the Sound of Detroit.”
The director of the Gordy Center will select the scholarship recipient each year, said the UCLA, and the beneficiary will be “a student demonstrating an exceptional promise and a financial need”.
“I am delighted that my friend Sir Lucian Grainge and Universal Music Group has committed to supporting this program with their endowment which will help doors to open doors to many more students and continue to open the way for music to be good and change,” Gordy said in a press release. “The center offers students vital opportunities for the UCLA to help prepare careers in the music industry, so that future generations of young talents will continue to innovate, inspire and bring together culture and communities thanks to the power of music.”
Robert Fink, acting dean of the herb Alpert School of Music and director of the Gordy Center, said that the partnership “reflects our conviction that the increase in access to education and vocational training is a powerful tool to transform the music industry”.
“This endowment guarantees that the next generation of music leaders, artists and entrepreneurs will not only be inspired by Berry Gordy’s innovation innovation, but also equipped to build it,” he said.
