Terri Lyne Carrington Elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Terri Lyne Carrington, founder and artistic director of the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice, was recently elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Founded in 1780 by John Hancock and John Adams with 60 patriot-scholars, the academy is both an honorary society that recognizes and celebrates the excellence of its members, and an independent research center, convening leaders from across disciplines, professions, and perspectives to address significant challenges. Carrington was elected with 251 notable figures in policy, business, culture, and academia, including Oprah Winfrey, Terence Blanchard, Angela Y. Davis, and Howard Schultz. The academy's current membership includes over 5,700 figures across the world, including Yo-Yo Ma, Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Joan Baez, Carol Burnett, and 2020 Berklee honorary doctorate recipient John Legend. Academy members have included over 60 Pulitzer Prize recipients and more than 250 Nobel laureates throughout history. 

“It is a profound honor to join the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, an establishment rooted in history, education, and change,” said Carrington. “As a part of this prestigious organization, I look forward to working alongside various distinguished leaders to address challenges and propose ideas that will ultimately better our world.”

An acclaimed musician, producer, educator, composer, bandleader, and artist, Carrington has recorded and toured with Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Dianne Reeves, John Scofield ’73, Diana Krall ’83, and Cassandra Wilson, among countless others. She made history as the first woman to win the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album for Money Jungle: Provocative in Blue, a reimagining of the Duke Ellington classic. Her collaborations with Esperanza Spalding B.M. ’05 and Geri Allen, as well as her female-driven Mosaic Project recordings, have been met with critical acclaim.

In 2018, Carrington founded the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice, for which she currently serves as artistic director. The institute aims to recruit, teach, mentor, and advocate for musicians seeking to study jazz, with gender justice and racial justice as guiding principles. She was named a Doris Duke Artist in 2019, topped the DownBeat Critics Poll in 2020, and her groundbreaking album Waiting Game with her band, Social Science, was nominated for Best Jazz Instrumental Album at the 2021 Grammy Awards. She was recently recognized with a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Jazz Masters Award, the nation's highest honor in the genre. Carrington also currently serves as the artistic director of the Carr Center in Detroit.

“Terri Lyne Carrington has always been an artist willing to think beyond what’s possible and make it happen,” said Berklee President Roger H. Brown. “I am so proud to know she will be representing Berklee as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, in the company of so many outstanding individuals.”