Located in Boston, Massachusetts, the New England Conservatory of Music is one of the country's premier conservatories. It has featured a world-renowned faculty of teaching artists who have been recognized for their legacy of training leading musicians for the world's premier orchestras, since the Conservatory's campus are located in a dense urban context in Boston's South End neighborhood, adjacent to Symphony Hall. The Conservatory currently enrolls 750 undergraduate and graduate students, as well as 1,400 pre-college students through its Preparatory School program.

Rickes Associates (RA) was directed to develop and implement a detailed peer benchmarking survey, encompassing ten conservatories and schools of music that the Conservatory identified as peer institutions.

Employing 200 data elements selected for comparative purposes, the online survey compared quantities and characteristics of various space types including residence halls, practice rooms, classrooms, library spaces, faculty studios, and dining facilities. Other survey questions evaluated future institutional plans for renovation and construction.