Arts Advocates Awards $26,900 in Scholarships to 10 Local Students for the 2020-21 School Year

Arts Advocates recently awarded 10 Sarasota and Manatee county students with $26,900 in scholarships for the 2020-21 school year. Since 1969, the scholarship program has awarded over $1.1 million to students whose studies include visual and related arts, dance, writing, music, theater and architecture. All scholarship monies are generated through Arts Advocates activities. 

Jackie Salvino, Arts Advocates scholarship team leader, stated, “Members of our organization are proud to support students in furthering their education in all fields of the arts. We have bright lights among us, even in these unforeseen times, and we are looking to the future by continuing to financially support scholars. As our entertainment is so focused on arts that are brought into our homes, we are contributing to training the next generation that will stretch our imaginations, touch our emotions, and inspire our dreams.” 

Recipients of the 2020-2021 scholarships, their fields of study, and the educational institutions they’ll be attending, are: Emily Cain, architecture, Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, NY); Angelina Cotto, film, Savannah College of Art and Design (Savannah, GA); Thaleia Dasberg, performing arts, Barnard College (New York, NY); Danny Bò DeLongaig, music, Baldwin Wallace University (Berea, OH); Pablo Gonzalez, digital art, The New School: Parsons School of Design (New York, NY); Alexis McKinnon, fine arts, Florida International University (Miami, FL); Emma Pritchett, architecture, University of South Florida (Tampa, FL); Haley Rosenthal, theater, Boston Conservatory at Berklee (Boston, MA); Elijah Schildkraut, music, Berklee College of Music (Boston, MA); and Zachary Timmons, visual art, Savannah College of Art and Design. 

Ceramicist Matt Kearney, a past scholarship recipient (2004 and 2005), earned his bachelor’s degree from Stetson University in DeLand, Florida. Recalling his scholarship award, Kearney stated that Arts Advocates “was one of the earliest groups that recognized me as an artist. I received so much good feedback and positive affirmations about my work, and those comments validated my decision to pursue a career in the arts. The organization’s early support and confidence in my talent were very important to me.” Kearney’s studio/gallery is in one of six historic fishing cottages that have been turned into a small artist village in Riverside Park in Bonita Springs, Florida. His work has been awarded by a past sitting Florida governor and displayed in the Florida capitol building.