Scholarships for Artists

It used to be that parent’s discouraged their kidsencourage local talent. Liberty Graphics conducts a
from becoming artists. Now, the world of art is broadyearly juried art contest, and presents the winner
and can be very lucrative. And if you need anotherwith a $1000 award. The contest is open only to high
reason to convince your parents you want to go toschool seniors who are a resident of Maine. Each year
art school, there are many schools offeringthe contest theme may change. This year the
scholarships and funding.contest title is "Art and Our Natural Environment".
Art scholarships run the gamut from drawing toEntries should reflect an appreciation of our natural
painting to photography to design and even includeenvironment. More
art of the culinary, musical and literary variety. Many• NFAA Arts Recognition and Talent Search ARTS
art scholarships are specific to a particular state,(Arts Recognition and Talent Search®) is NFAA's
county, or even a college in addition to the art majorcore program. ARTS identifies high school seniors and
or art interest/ability requirement.other 17 and 18 year old artists in the disciplines of
To get you started, here are some resources:Dance, Film and Video, Jazz, Music, Photography,
• Your University: Most Art Departments offerTheater, Visual Arts, Voice and Writing for
scholarships to students attending their schools, eitherscholarships and financial support. Through ARTS,
directly through the school or through business,NFAA annually awards up to $900,000 in cash awards
benefactors and foundations that support the school.(with individual awards ranging from $10,000 -
Many schools also offer them to prospective$100)and makes available $3 million in scholarship
students.opportunities to America's most outstanding high
If you're attending or planning to attend a university,school senior-age artists through its Scholarship List
contact your Program Advisor to ask whatService (SLS). More
scholarships may be available through the school or• The Scholastic Art Awards -The Scholastic Art
department (if you're already attending, definitelyAwards honor students currently enrolled in grades
check in with your Art Instructors, too!). Don't forget7-12, recognizing about 50,000 regional winners.
to look for scholarship opportunities on the universityNationally, 800 young artists' individual works receive
department's web site or on a bulletin board near theGold and Silver awards in each of 14 art categories.
Art Department office on-campus, where they alsoArt Categories are: animation, ceramics & glass,
are often posted. Here are some typicalcomputer art, design, digital imagery, drawing, mixed
departmental scholarship listings:media, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture
Baum School of Artand video & film. Graduating high school seniors
Birmingham Southern Collegeseeking scholarships must submit a body of eight
Cranbrook Academy of Artworks of art or photography for Portfolio Awards to
Goshen Collegetheir regional office of The Awards. More
Hendrix College• The WorldStudio Foundation Scholarship -
St. Lawrence UniversityApplicants must be pursuing an undergraduate or
Most universities do offer scholarships to studentsgraduate degree in the fine or commercial arts,
attending their schools. That's because they really,design or architecture – one or more of the
really want to keep you there. These kinds ofdesign/arts disciplines below – and plan to enter a
scholarships are the easiest to find out about, butcareer in the creative professions. Applicants must be
somehow overlooked by many students who couldmatriculated (or planning to matriculate) at accredited
benefit greatly from the funding...and from thecolleges and universities in the United States for the
prestige of winning!fall of the coming academic year and intend on
Just to reinforce this idea of funding from yourmaintaining full-time status for the entire year.
university or college, the Department of EducationInternational students studying at accredited colleges
reports that at public universities, scholarship andand universities in the United States may apply. More
fellowship expenditures have risen consistently from• Charitable Foundations - The competition to
1980 through 1995.receive funding from charitable foundations is pretty
This may be an indication that there are opportunitiesstiff, even from the local ones. That's because they
waiting for you. Again, at the very least, you shoulddo a very good job of soliciting applicants, and the
ask your Advisor about other sources if there areawards are often larger than the smaller groups.
none available at your university for yourNevertheless, there are hundreds of these
circumstance.organizations giving away millions of dollars every
• L. Ron Hubbard Illustrators of The Futureyear. If you know of any locally, you should inquire.
Contest. Established in 1988, the L. Ron HubbardOr, you can take a glance at these, too:
Illustrators of The Future Contest is an ongoing merit• National Foundations -Andy Warhol Foundation,
competition for new and amateur artists. Run on aDonna Reed Foundation for the Performing Arts,
quarterly basis, an eligible entry is comprised of threeJackie Robinson Foundation
science fiction/fantasy illustrations done in a black &You can see that there's a lot of work involved just
white medium rendered from the artist's imagination.to find these opportunities...but that's nothing
Should the artist win with this entry, he is then sentcompared to the work you'll need to put in to win
a story from the companion L. Ron Hubbard Writersthem.
of The Future Contest for which to render anBottom line: There's plenty of scholarship money
illustration. This illustration then becomes his or heravailable in the arts. You just need to show that
entry in the yearly Grand Prize competition. Moreyou're worth the investment. And, if you are
• Liberty Graphics Art Scholarship - Libertydedicated to pursuing a career in the arts, you may
Graphics is a Maine company, designing and printingeven enjoy the work it takes to stand out from the
t-shirts with concern for the environment. We arecrowd anyway.
committed to the local economy and wish to