What is “artsy,” you may ask? The word is thrown around often these days. You might picture someone wearing thick-rimmed glasses, holding an analog camera and listening to the Velvet Underground on vinyl. While there are, certainly, people that fall into the category, the truth is anyone is “artsy” if—get this—they enjoy art and consider it an important part of their identity. Whether you’re a writer, painter, sculptor, photographer, musician, actor, et cetera, you cherish the value of art and understand its important place in our culture. Many cultivate their taste in art through their college experience. It is very rewarding to be surrounded by artists if you are one yourself. Here are a few routes you can take if you’re into art and looking for art scholarships:
AWMF & Ford Emerging Voices Scholarship
Amount: $2,000
Deadline: May 8, 2020
In her landmark work, A Room of One’s Own, the groundbreaking author Virginia Woolf denounced the societal limits against women. She stated that they were being held back from pursuing the arts by a male-dominated society. “Lock up your libraries if you like,” Woolf penned, “but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind”. Over three-quarters of a century later, Woolf would be glad to see that women have reshaped nearly every artistic field, including her own passion for writing.
To continue the traditions laid out by Woolf and others, the All Women In Media Foundation and the Ford Motor Company have teamed up to sponsor a scholarship. The award, called the Emerging Voices Scholarship, asks young women who plan to major in a field related to art or media to write a short essay. The winning entrant receives $2,000, a job as an online blogger for the AWM, and an invite to an upscale NYC luncheon to receive the award.
National YoungArts Foundation Scholarships
Amount: Varying
Deadline: October 16, 2020
Since 1981, the National YoungArts Foundation has been doling out art scholarships to students who create great work. The Foundation’s departments have awarded a wide spectrum of artists, from actress Viola Davis to rapper Nicki Minaj. Applicants stand on the merits of whatever art they create in ten different disciplines: Classical Music, Cinematic Arts, Dance, Design Arts, Jazz, Photography, Theater, Visual Arts, Voice, and Writing. Each discipline has its own requirements for submission, with some needing written material, other videos, and so on.
All applicants, however, must be permanent US residents between the ages of 15-18. Tens of thousands of students have become YoungArts Scholars and gone on to greater achievements since the Foundation’s inception. Once a student receives an initial scholarship, they are also eligible to apply for future scholarships. Some of these scholarships are for graduate students, others for college grads, et cetera. These extremely prestigious awards only go to the cream of the crop, so to speak. They provide students with even more opportunities than they have in hand after winning a contest.
National Society of Arts and Letters Scholarships
Amount: Varying
Deadline: TBD for 2021
The National Society of Arts Two awards of the most exclusive and prized national scholarships each year to students of art and music, named for a mother and daughter. Young painters and artists can apply for the Naomi Rabb Winston Scholarship in Art. The singers among us compete for her daughter’s namesake award, the Shirley Rabb Winston Scholarship in Classical Voice.
Both awards are extremely prestigious, and the awardees must use them toward private study, not college tuition; students can attend workshops or summer programs using the funds. Any student striving for a Winston Scholarship must have their name put forward by their local NASL chapter, and eventually around ten students are chosen to receive the award. These students go on to independent studies in their chosen fields with the aid and backing of the NASL.
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Interested in pursuing an art major? Use College Raptor’s free match tool to discover colleges around the country that have an arts program fit for your talents!
| Lender | Rates (APR) | Eligibility | |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
6.97%-15.03%* Variable
5.99%-14.00%* Fixed
|
Undergraduate and Graduate
|
VISIT CITIZENS |
 |
6.37% - 16.70% Variable
4.50% - 15.49% Fixed
|
Undergraduate and Graduate
|
VISIT SALLIE MAE |
|
|
4.98% - 16.70% Variable
4.07% - 15.66% Fixed
|
Undergraduate and Graduate
|
VISIT CREDIBLE |
 |
6.07% - 11.31% Variable
4.39% - 10.39% Fixed
|
Undergraduate and Graduate
|
VISIT LENDKEY |
 |
6.22% - 16.08% Variable
4.09% - 15.66% Fixed
|
Undergraduate and Graduate
|
VISIT ASCENT |
 |
6.54% - 11.08% Variable
3.95% - 8.01% Fixed
|
Undergraduate and Graduate
|
VISIT ISL |
 |
5.62% - 18.26% Variable
4.11% - 15.90% Fixed
|
Undergraduate and Graduate
|
VISIT EARNEST |
 |
4.98% - 12.79% Variable
8.42% - 13.01% Fixed
|
Undergraduate and Graduate
|
VISIT ELFI |
