Huntsville Festival of the Arts Scholarship Program

The Huntsville Festival of the Arts Scholarship Award was introduced in 1997 to foster the development of the performing arts talent in our community. This year the Festival will again offer a Junior, Intermediate and Senior Scholarship. The Junior Scholarship, of up to $500, is available to applicants 13 years of age and under as at December 31, 2011. The Intermediate Scholarship, an award up to $1,000, is available to students 16 years of age and under as at December 31, 2011 and the Senior Scholarship is awarded to students 17 years of age or older at the same date. Once again this year the Senior Awards will total $1,500. Students may apply for only one level of scholarship per year and scholarship funds must be used towards the cost of tuition to a post secondary institution or applied towards lessons from a qualified instructor.

Candidates must reside in the Huntsville/Lake of Bays area. Applications for both scholarships may be picked up from the High School Guidance Department or at the Huntsville Forester office at 11 Main St. W., just up and across the street from the Post Office commencing April 8th. Applications are to be completed and mailed back to the Festival office by a specified deadline in May.

Applications can be downloaded here:
Junior Scholarship Application
Intermediate Scholarship Application
Senior Scholarship Application

Festival Scholarships

Sarah Boucher performas at a Music At Noon Recital during the 2011 Season

In addition to the application, each candidate will be required to perform a live audition in front of an adjudication panel. Award recipients will be notified during the week following the auditions.

Previous Festival scholarships have been awarded to students pursuing studies in dance, theatre, and music. Scholarship recipients and applicants have participated in a number of performance opportunities over the years, both during main stage concerts at the Festival and Music at Noon concerts. Winners of either the Festival or Community Choir Junior or Intermediate Scholarships are eligible to reapply for the Senior Scholarship but Senior candidates can only win once. However, unsuccessful Senior applicants are encouraged to audition in subsequent years. For further information please contact Rob Saunders at (705) 788-2787.

Other Scholarship Opportunities

In 2009, the Festival worked with Kelly Holinshead of The Shutterbug Gallery in Huntsville to present the first annual en Plein Air event. Established local artists worked with recognized community citizens to paint a picture in 3 hours, at outdoor venues throughout the downtown core. The resultant artwork was then auctioned off that afternoon, on the Town Hall steps, and over $3,000 was raised to be directed towards visual art scholarships for graduating art students throughout the Muskoka region. Similar amounts have been raised in subsequent years. This year’s en Plein Air event will be held on July 26, with the auction to be held at 3:00 PM on the Town Hall steps.

In 2010, the festival undertook a $1,000 Huntsville Festival Visual Arts Scholarship to be awareded to a graduating visual arts student.