Monmouth University becomes first East Coast affiliate of the GRAMMY Museum

Grammy Museum

The band Flammable Animals performs after a ceremony announcing the affiliation of Monmouth University in West Long Branch with the GRAMMY Museum in Los Angeles (MaryAnn Spoto | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

(MaryAnn Spoto)

WEST LONG BRANCH —Kellan Brennan picked Monmouth University as the place to pursue his college degree because he wanted a school that would allow him to study music.

The 20-year-old sophomore from Connecticut said he hit the jackpot when the school on Friday officially became affiliated with the Holy Grail of the music industry – the GRAMMY Museum in Los Angeles.

"I love it. It opens up a lot of different things for me," said Brennan, a communications major who is minoring in music. "It's a resource for me to practice with bands, write music."

Monmouth University became the fourth school in the country – the first on the East Coast – to forge an officially recognized relationship with the museum, an interactive educational facility devoted to the history of music and winners of GRAMMY Awards.

The relationship gives students the chance to participate in internships and other programs aimed at entrenching them in the music business and establishing connections they wouldn't otherwise get, said Monmouth University President Paul Brown.

Students would also have access to the museum's vast database of music, Brown said.

The connection was driven by a desire to expand the school's music programs, he said.

"We really wanted to ramp up our music and theater arts department so it would serve students on the stage as well as off the stage," he said.

The school took care of preparing the curriculum and then tapped into the expertise of one of its graduates and former instructor, former music critic Bob Santelli, who is now director of the GRAMMY Museum.

Santelli likened the museum, which he's headed since it started six years ago, to the hub of a wheel and the affiliate universities as the spokes that can bring students from across the country together to experience various forms of music.

The other educational affiliates are the University of Southern California, Oregon State and Delta State University in Mississippi.

"The possibilities are endless and they're all very exciting," Santelli said at the official announcement at the West Long Branch school. "It allows the Grammy Museum to be taken seriously as an educational institution because we're affiliated with top-rate universities."

MaryAnn Spoto may be reached at mspoto@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @MaryAnnSpoto. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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