Berklee Institute for Accessible Arts Education

From This Moment On: Celebrating the Launch of the Berklee Institute for Arts Education and Special Needs

The launch of the new Berklee Institute for Arts Education and Special Needs was celebrated on September 28 with a cocktail reception featuring distinguised guests Delfeayo Marsalis and Mboya Marsalis.

Rhoda Bernard

October 16, 2017

Dozens of people turned out for the launch of Berklee's Institute for Arts Education and Special Needs on September 28.

Image by Dave Green

From left: Rhoda Bernard, managing director of the Berklee Institute for Arts Education and Special Needs; Darla Hanley, dean of the Professional Education Division; Mboya Marsalis; and Delfeayo Marsalis B.M. '89

Image by Dave Green

From left: Darla Hanley, Rhoda Bernard, and Cecil Adderley, chair of the Music Education Department

Image by Dave Green

From left: Mboya Marsalis, Delfeayo Marsalis, alumnus Matt Savage, student Adam Walden, and Rosanne Walden

Image by Dave Green

The Berklee Institute for Arts Education and Special Needs celebrated its launch with a cocktail reception on September 28, 2017. The evening's program included brief remarks; a conversation with Berklee alumnus Delfeayo Marsalis and Rhoda Bernard, the institute's managing director; a reading of "As Song," a poem written for the occasion by Judson Evans, a professor in the Liberal Arts Department; and a toast to the new institute.

Special guests included:

Delfeayo Marsalis B.M. '89, trombonist and music producer
Mboya Marsalis, Delfeayo's brother who has autism
Matt Savage B.M. '12, pianist and composer who has autism
Adam Walden, Berklee student, cellist who has autism
Julie Burros, chief of arts and culture, Mayor Martin J. Walsh's Office of Arts and Culture
Kristen McCosh, disability commissioner for the city of Boston

Watch Rhoda Bernard, managing director of the Berklee Institute for Arts Education and Special Needs, speak at the launch: