I learned this week that I’ve been chosen to receive the nation’s most generous independent scholarship for graduate studies in the arts. The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation is a private foundation established in 2000 by Jack Kent Cooke to help exceptionally promising students with financial need reach their full potential through education. The Foundation has taken an amazing vote of confidence in my future by selecting me to be one of this year’s 15 recipients of the Graduate Arts Award.
The Award covers cost of attendance in a graduate degree program for up to $50,000 per year for three years (extending to multiple degrees as needed). It’s given to college students or recent graduates with significant financial need who will pursue a graduate or professional degree in the visual arts, performing arts, or creative writing.
Candidates for the scholarship must be nominated by a faculty representative at their undergraduate institution. Each college or university may nominate up to two candidates. I was nominated by NEC’s Provost and Dean, Thomas Novak, and recommended by Chair of Composition, Michael Gandolfi, and Chair of Liberal Arts, Patrick Keppel. A review panel of distinguished artists, arts faculty, and university administrators selected the recipients using criteria including artistic or creative merit, academic achievement, financial need, will to succeed, and a breadth of interests and activities.