18 Nigerian Talents Win Over $2 Million In Berklee Scholarships At Tiwa Savage Music Foundation Grand Finale

LAGOS — Eighteen emerging Nigerian musicians made history on Sunday night as they were awarded full three-year undergraduate scholarships to Berklee College of Music in Boston, USA, with a combined value of over $2 million, at the grand finale of the Berklee in Nigeria: Class of 2026 programme.

The spectacular ceremony, held at the National Theatre, now reborn as the Wole Soyinka Center for Culture and the Creative Arts in Lagos brought a fitting close to a week that many are already describing as a turning point for music education on the African continent.

The event was organised by the Tiwa Savage Music Foundation in partnership with Berklee College of Music, and featured a free concert with performances from approximately 120 emerging artists.

Singer Teni was also among the night’s performers, thrilling the crowd alongside the graduating class.

The Grand Finale Concert and Award Ceremony drew a 3,000-person audience of music industry executives, cultural leaders, artists, and public attendees.

The event was hosted by Nigerian media personalities Darey Art Alade and Kiekie.

The scholarship recipients were drawn from 120 selected emerging Nigerian musicians who had undergone the intensive five-day programme, themselves chosen from over 2,100 applicants described as the largest application pool ever recorded for Berklee on the Road globally.

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Participants underwent intensive classroom instruction, ensemble training, specialist lectures, and one-on-one scholarship interviews led by six Berklee faculty members, covering genres including Afrobeats, R&B, hip-hop, gospel, jazz and fusion.

The programme combined theory with real-world application, including music production, songwriting, sound engineering, harmony, and ear training, as well as music publishing, copyright, and elements of entertainment law.

The initiative marks a milestone not just for the 18 winners, but for African music more broadly.

Berklee President Jim Lucchese described the programme as “the first-ever Berklee on the Road in Nigeria,” adding that it will “continue to increase access to Berklee’s curriculum around the world.”

Tiwa Savage, a Berklee alumna herself who launched the foundation to pay forward the opportunity she once received, has been vocal about the vision behind the initiative.

“Afrobeats has captured the world’s attention, but attention alone is not enough to sustain an industry. Talent is universal — but access is not,” she said earlier this month.

The evening also produced an unexpected viral moment: Afrobeats stars Tiwa Savage and Seyi Shay were photographed sharing a warm embrace at the event, sparking widespread talk of reconciliation years after their well-publicised 2021 confrontation.

With 18 young Nigerians now holding tickets to one of the world’s most prestigious music institutions, Sunday night was more than a concert, it was a declaration that Africa’s music future is being built, one scholarship at a time.