Faculty Support
Goal: $14.5 million
No single element is more central to the excellence of the NEC experience than our faculty, and no single gift has more impact on our ability to preserve and enrich this excellence over time than an endowed chair.
The NEC faculty is renowned, with a string department widely regarded as the best in the country and a jazz program that is unrivalled. Thirty members of the BSO teach here, along with prize-winning composers, virtuoso pianists, and leading voice coaches. The presence of these celebrated artists and teachers on the faculty is the primary draw for students, and invariably the hiring of important new faculty brings an immediate response in applications.
But until now the Conservatory has operated at a disadvantage, lacking the endowed positions that peer institutions are able to offer in recruiting and retaining outstanding faculty. By establishing NEC’s first endowed chairs, the Campaign will secure NEC’s future and, over the years, will encourage many more of the world’s most sought-after artist/teachers to make New England Conservatory their musical and professional home.
The Nicholas Family Challenge
Through the generosity of Pete and Ginny Nicholas, the Nicholas Family Challenge offers an unprecedented opportunity for friends to transform NEC’s ability to attract the best musical talent. The challenge grant increases a new donor’s $1 million campaign gift by $500,000 to bring it to the faculty chair minimum endowment level of $1.5 million. By the Campaign’s end, a total of 8 permanently funded chairs will be created through this initiative.
Endowed faculty chairs created to date:
- Donna Hieken Chair in Flute
- Dorothy Richard Starling Chair in Violin Studies
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