The Gathering with Angélika Beener

The Gathering is an ongoing series presented by the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice. Events are open to the greater Berklee community and public, and feature performances, guest lectures, workshops, and discussions—all with gender and racial equity as a guiding principle. 

Angélika Beener is a music lover whose devotion to the arts is expressed through a distinctive synthesis of musicology, DJ performance, and award-winning editorial and media production.

Beener is the producer and host of Milestones: Celebrating the Culture, a popular podcast series in partnership with WBGO, where she and special guests thoughtfully examine a curated selection of landmark albums, people, and events celebrating milestone anniversaries. Beener has contributed her work to TIDAL, the Huffington Post, DownBeat, NPR Music, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and the New York Times (5 Minutes That Will Make You Love series). In addition, she has contributed liner notes, essays, and biographies to acclaimed recording projects, including several Grammy-winning and -nominated albums. A journalist who writes about music and culture at the intersections of race, gender, and generation, her work in public radio has been recognized by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the New York Association of Black Journalists.

Beener has moderated music-centered discussions presented by distinguished institutions, including the Apollo Theater, the Greene Space, Winter Jazzfest, and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. She has participated in several notable event panels, roundtables, and guest speaking engagements, including Marvin Gaye and the Legacy of What’s Going On?: Christian McBride in Conversation, which included fellow panelists Janis Gaye, David Ritz, Nelson George, and Steven Reineke; and the WGBH program Under the Radar with Callie Crossley. She has also been a featured guest on the New Jersey PBS television program Chat Box, hosted by political correspondent David Cruz. As host, Beener has emceed the Jazz Journalists Association Awards three times, and in 2021, she cohosted Jazz Foundation of America’s Spotlight Jazz mini gala at City Winery with legendary actor, producer, and activist Danny Glover.

In summer of 2023, Beener emceed the Mutual Mentorship for Musicians event and awards ceremony at the National Jazz Museum in Harlem. She has had the honor of speaking at esteemed institutions like UPenn, the Juilliard School, and the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, sharing her knowledge and experiences with the next generation of artists. In November 2022, Beener directed and coproduced Represent! A Night of Hip Hop, Jazz, and Spoken Word at New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) with NJPAC Jazz Advisor and Musical Director Christian McBride. The historic program brought these artistic mediums together with an illustrious line-up including Black Thought (the Roots), Speech (Arrested Development), and legendary poets and spoken word performers Nikki Giovanni, Mayor Ras Baraka, and the Last Poets.

As DJ, Beener has performed at various notable New York City venues, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Nublu, Le Poisson Rouge, Time Out New York, and Brooklyn’s Dumbo Drop. She was the featured DJ at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s 2020 Worldwide Concert for Our Culture gala, the National Jazz Museum in Harlem 2022 gala, Jazz at Lincoln Center's Jazz Congress in 2024, and the Doris Duke Artist Award Retreat in 2025. She made her Capital One City Parks Foundation SummerStage debut in August 2024 and returned in 2025. In 2026, Beener had the distinguished honor of DJing the official Grammy afterparty on the Ray Charles Terrace of the Grammy Museum.

Beener was consulting producer for the award-winning 2019 documentary Digging for Weldon Irvine, an unsung father of jazz fusion. Most recently, she produced a one-hour documentary special titled Strata-East: The Legacy Begins, created in celebration of the newly formed partnership between Mack Avenue Music Group and the legendary, artist-run label Strata-East. Founded in the 1970s, Strata-East stands as a landmark in Black independent music history, known for its uncompromising vision and community-driven ethos. The special features more than 15 jazz legends and contemporary stars, honoring the enduring influence of Strata-East on generations of musicians and listeners alike.

An advocate for gender and racial equity, particularly in the arts, Beener served as a dedicated member of the board of directors for Willie Mae Rock Camp, a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering girls and gender-expansive youth through music education and mentorship.

Beener is a New York City native and proud mom.