Local musician Deana Joka, a graduate of the Holland College School of Performing Arts Music Performance program has been selected by Berklee College of Music to receive a Berklee International Network Augmentation Award of $10,000 to enable her to continue her studies at the prestigious school.
The award is in addition to a $9,000 scholarship the bass player received after auditioning for Berklee earlier this year. Ms. Joka, who grew up in Charlottetown, graduated from the School of Performing Arts in 2013 and returned this year to prepare to apply and audition for Berklee.
Holland College's SoPA Music Performance program uses Berklee curriculum and is the only Canadian member of the Berklee International Network. Holland College also has an articulation agreement with Berklee, enabling graduates from the SoPA program to enter their third year of study at Berklee.
“Getting these scholarships is an absolute honor! Being able to go to Berklee is a dream come true and I look forward to studying and learning with other talented musicians,” said Ms. Joka.
Liam Corcoran, program manager for School of Performing Arts, expects the number of graduates from the music performance program who choose to continue their studies at Berklee to increase significantly.
“When our graduates see exemplary students such as Deana going on to study at Berklee I’m sure that they will be inspired to do the same. We are very proud of Deana, and will be following her career with great interest,” he said.
The Holland College School of Performing Arts is a partnership between Holland College and Confederation of the Arts. For more information about the two-year Music Performance program and other SoPA programs, visit hollandcollege.com/sopa, call 1 (800) 446-5265 or email info@hollandcollege.com.
For more information about this release, please contact:
Sara Underwood, Media and Communications Officer
Tel: 902-566-9695
Date: Wednesday, April 25, 2018
