Deadlines vary, so we recommend you research these great opportunities now so that when the time comes, you can apply to as many as possible. Also please note: Due to COVID-19, some scholarships may not be issued this year, but this list is up-to-date as of press time even if applications have not opened for the 2021–2022 school year.
5 comments:
I am constantly on the search for scholarships because paying for college has, and probably will be for a while, an extreme stressor in my family’s life. When I was applying for colleges I really tried to look for scholarships - and although there are scholarship databases I had incredible difficulty finding anything that applied to me and what I was pursuing. I’m from Wisconsin, and there are a lot of scholarships for Wisconsin students who are pursuing higher education in Wisconsin. I think it is helpful that Playbill has compiled some scholarships that apply to multiple areas within theater. On a larger note, paying for school is really tough, but paying for top-notch art schools where the price of your tuition doesn’t even cover materials is even rougher. I wish someone would compile a list of types of funds that would help alleviate these costs - and if a well-known source like Playbill posted it I know it would reach a much larger audience.
I have noticed that there are very little scholarships available for artist. And when there are scholarships, they aren’t large scholarships like other industries. It makes sense but it is such a struggle as an art student because our tuition is the same. In high school I was told to just apply to as many as possible and they would add up. I won quite a few art competitions at the state capitol and museum in my state but all them added together only paid for my applications and deposit for cmu. I am very grateful for this list and to know that there are organizations giving out scholarships to drama students.
Having scholarships directly centered around the arts is a great way to help encourage students to continue to pursue the arts. Getting one of these scholarships could allow someone the opportunity to go to a better college or even go to college at all. I do wish, though, that these scholarships were more prominent as I found it difficult to find scholarships. Many were buried deep in company or organization websites as if they did not want anyone to know about it.
I frequently receive emails from the Educational Theater Association, and I think it is amazing how they offer so many types of scholarships specifically for theater. It is often a struggle for artists to be able to compete for scholarships, and especially when theater is in such a small realm of art, it is hard to compete an acting monologue with graphic design. Having such a specific scholarship is an amazing opportunity for those pursuing theater and is a great thing to take advantage of. However, I find it hard to compete in such scholarships as someone pursuing design and production within theater. Like the question of comparing an acting monologue with graphic design, the same goes for acting with a lighting design. It is in a different realm of art. Even within design and production for theater, how can someone compete, for example, for the same scholarship with sound design, scenic design, and costume design? I wish there were more opportunities for such specific scholarship to accommodate for the thriving design and production realm of theater within art. I find that we often are hidden in the shadows of the actors, in recognition and in opportunities such as scholarships.
I think it's amazing that Playbill released a list of theatre and art based scholarships as that has the potential to reel in more kids into the arts. Going to school for the arts is very expensive and especially daunting to students who are not from insanely well off backgrounds so creating any way that the arts can be more accessible is a win in my eyes. I do like how the list clarifies what aspect of theatre (tech or performance) these scholarships are aimed towards as it is very hard to find scholarships that are specifically for tech theatre and not other industries of design. I think the college admission process is so hard that it would be nice if they constantly updated a page for tech and performance scholarships making it easier to find scholarships and allow more kids to freely think about the college or university they would like to go to without worrying about the weight of student loans. If such a website or database were to be created it would also have the potential of reeling in more art students and allow the arts to be more accessible to lower income communities. The work that Playbill is doing is a great start but I do hope to see more in the future.
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