From the Nominator

Berklee College of Music Alumni's Digital Engagement team was founded in 2018. As part of a comprehensive rebuild of Alumni Affairs' storytelling distribution, we took a comprehensive look at our target audiences, reasons for engagement, and best distribution avenues. As a result, several series were created. "After School Special" provided career tips and insights, "Alumni Live" presented alumni performances, "A Minute With" showed quick interviews with visiting alumni. However, one series was named and requested by the alumni community online. "Variations" is a series that spotlights alumni through their words and music, celebrating triumph over struggle, and recognizing that success can come in many different ways. Today, Variations is over five years old, and to celebrate this collaboration between alumni and staff, we released a three-part series: "Variations Signature Series." The goal of the series is to showcase and celebrate the dedication to the craft that alumni demonstrate every day throughout the music industry. This series spotlights three alumni, a performer in Atlanta, an engineer in Los Angeles, and a show producer in New York. Through the interplay of black and white and color, these videos blend the art and music of the subjects with their stories of overcoming challenges. We've distributed the videos monthly during the spring semester as featured content that also ties in with Black History Month, Women's History Month, and Stress Awareness Month. The campaign works with each subject to promote the video throughout social media and email campaigns, and is hosted on our Berklee Alumni YouTube channel.

From the Judges

Berklee was brave and honest for creating these videos. They address a feeling that not only their alumni experience, but one many young graduates of any college or university could relate to. But very few institutions would dare to touch the subject of their alumni struggling professionally after graduation. Additionally, they found a shared experience that their alumni face after graduation—finding work in the arts, and then created a way to normalize that and tell relatable stories, while also celebrating accomplishments.