Lady Gaga Taps Harvard to Create Foundation

Music mega-star Lady Gaga made a very special announcement last week that will have her venturing outside of the pop world. The talented 25 year old is partnering with Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society, The California Foundation, and the John D. and Catherine T. McArthur Foundation to create the Born This Way Foundation. The Berkman Center is known as being among the  most  cutting  edge institutions around the globe that utilizes the power of the internet as a means to promote change, and is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Gaga and her mother, Cynthia Germanotta, will oversee the BTWF, whose mission states:

The nonprofit charitable organization will lead youth into a braver new society where each individual is accepted and loved as the person they were born to be. BTWF will focus on youth empowerment and equality by addressing issues like self-confidence, well-being, anti-bullying, mentoring and career development and will utilize digital mobilization as one of the means to create positive change.

The charity will officially launch sometime next year.

The Mother Monster was last in Boston this past March for a sold-out concert date at the TD Banknorth Garden, which was a relatively quiet visit compared to previous concert dates.

In July of last year, the “Pokerface” singer was in Boston once again playing to sold out audiences at the Garden, when just days earlier, the Grammy winner, known for her eccentric behavior and outlandish performances, grabbed some beers with the Berklee band, Semi Precious Weapons, her opening act, at the Bukowski Tavern in Inman Square in Cambridge. That same night, police were called to the Ritz-Carlton parking garage after a member of the paparazzi got into a scuffle with one of Lady Gaga’s bodyguards. While she was in town, she was also honored with a special unveiling of an exclusive Polaroid to be displayed at the MIT Museum.

In December 2009, the day before she played the Wang and delayed her stage time in order to Skype into interviews on the West Coast after her 5 Grammy nominations, GaGa’s make-up artist was spotted shopping at the Sephora in the Prudential Center. That same month, Gaga garnered recognition of a different kind from a Beantown organization; the Boston Public Health Commission ranked some of Lady GaGa’s hits among the worst relationship songs of the year.

Earlier this summer, the lady formerly known as Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta released a Boston edition of her hit single, “You and I”.