We often talk about Easton and Talbot County, as being the hub for the arts on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. We speak proudly of our cornerstone arts organizations, the Academy Art Museum, the Avalon Foundation, Chesapeake Music and the myriad of other fine arts programs and events we enjoy with our families, friends and visitors. Often overlooked in our conversations is this community’s strong commitment to arts education for young adults in Talbot County.
Every summer, the Talbot County Arts Council provides grants for advanced art studies to students with outstanding artistic promise. This year the Arts Council was able to fully fund summer arts scholarships for Amanda Dolle, Easton High School, Bradley Duley, Saint Michaels Middle High School, Kelvin Montoya, Saint Michaels Middle High School, Madeline Morrell, Easton High School, Elizabeth Snapp, Saints Peter and Paul High School, and Mara Stoyanov, Easton High School.
Every fall, the Art Council hosts its annual Winners Circle award reception where all Talbot County arts organizations and their supporters come to celebrate. The summer arts scholarship winners are invited to come and talk about their experience and how the scholarship helped them to improve and advance their artistic skills.
“With great disappointment, this year’s reception was cancelled for health and safety reasons due to COVID19. But the Arts Council did not want the community to miss out on hearing from the scholarship winners as they are often the highlight of the evening,” according to Joan Levy, Executive Director. Working with local videographer, Caroline Phillips, the students provided one-on-one interviews that captured their passion and enthusiasm for their art despite these challenging times. Their videos are posted on the Arts Council’s YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChvFclg-f05L0rRiHeqBSuA/
The Talbot County Arts Council receives funding through a Community Arts Development grant provided by the Maryland State Arts Council, with important additional contributions from Talbot County and Towns of Easton, Oxford and St. Michaels. Last year these government revenues were supplemented for arts-in-education programs by generous contributions from the Artistic Insights Fund of the Mid-Shore Community Foundation, Dock Street Foundation, and the Ruth and Robert St. John Foundation.
The Arts Council is very committed to expanding the summer arts scholarship program. The 50/50 matching fund requirement for the high school student summer arts scholarship program was identified as a barrier to achieving a wider and more diverse pool of applicants. This year the Arts Council was able to fully fund all summer arts scholarships without the matching fund requirement and are planning to make this a permanent change.
Applications for the high school summer arts scholarship program are accepted each spring. Students are nominated by a high school teacher or the director of an arts organization. Contact [email protected] / 410-245-5195 for more information about program eligibility.
Attached photo: Kelvin Montoya, Talbot County Arts Council Summer 2020 Scholarship winner and a student at St. Michaels Middle High School, discuss video shoot with Caroline Phillips, videographer.
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