Thread: "Scholarships" for Festival workshops

Hi do any Festivals that you know of offer "scholarships" for workshop attendance? If so does the scholarship cover the full cost of the workshop or would it be a discounted rate?

This idea has been tossed around for our next Festival, *very* preliminary at the moment. I'm putting together an initial proposal and I'm wondering how (or if) it is being done elsewhere.

We are considering seeking sponsors to fund "scholarships" which would be in the form of workshop vouchers for the successful applicant.

If you offer scholarships, what are your criteria for applicants?

Have you seen this kind of thing being done and what were your reactions to it?

Wondering what does Bhuz think??

Sounds great to me..g.:

One sponsor I knew offers scholarships to incent people to help do the work of the event. They decide a certain number of hours of work that are required in order to receive the scholarship, and people wanting the scholarship must complete this number of hours of work in advance of the actual event in order to receive the scholarship.

Tasks could be whatever the sponsor values enough to justify the scholarship AND the candidate possesses the skill to do - processing advance event registrations, graphics design work, web site work, costume making, cleaning the sponsor's dance studio, etc.

In the situation I'm familiar with, no effort was made to find commercial sponsors. The work expected of the applicant provided the justification for awarding the scholarship.

Shira, yes I've also seen where volunteers can get workshop attendance in return for work but more for the people helping out on the day rather than advance work. For e.g. at out last Fest the person who volunteered to greet participants, take attendance and ensure that the instructor has everything they need also got to attend that workshop free of charge.

We want to set something up that could help students who may otherwise not be able to attend the Festival workshops. We need to decide things like, can people nominate themselves and apply or do they need to be nominated by someone else? Who would be able to apply? Who decides who gets the scholarship? Is it more on a needs basis or is it more like a reward for up-and-coming dance students? How much say should a sponsor have in who gets the "scholarship"? Is scholarship even the right word?

For the sponsors, how to make it worth their while in promotional opportunities? Should we expect the recipients to be active in promoting the scholarship plan for the next event, or should they be anonymous?

And lots more questions churning around in my head ...

That's a great idea, Jilyan. I'm not aware of merit or needs-based support being given for festivals elsewhere.

To me, the term "scholarship" implies a merit-based award. "Bursary" is the term that's usually used to refer to needs-based awards, at least at North American universities.

I think it would be better to allow individuals to submit their own applications rather than ask for nominations. A nominations system just rewards the acquaintances of conscientious nominators while the most meritorious or needy potential candidates often wind up being overlooked if they're not known to someone who has the motivation to nominate them.

Either merit- or needs-based awards would be worthwhile -- how do you see the purpose of the award? To give people who wouldn't be able to afford to attend the festival the chance to go? Or to reward people who are achieving in the dance and encourage their further development?

I think a sponsor should have no say in who receives the award. The recipient should be decided on, ideally, by an independent committee selected based on their ability to judge the award criteria. It's perfectly reasonable to expect scholarship recipients to allow you to release some information about them to help you promote the award for the following year; academic scholarship applications often include release forms that the applicant has to sign agreeing to the use of her name for promotional purposes should she win the award. If you choose to do a bursary, I think it would be more appropriate to keep recipient information anonymous.

i have students that i barter with, they take care of admin, enrollment, the door, driving people from their hotel to the venue, stuff like that, when we have international guests, and get in return some free workshops with a big name visiting dancer, and/or coming along to the dinner with them on our expense, etc...
i ask students that i know want to take the workshops but really cant afford it (college students,...). .

Originally Posted by jilyan

Hi do any Festivals that you know of offer "scholarships" for workshop attendance? If so does the scholarship cover the full cost of the workshop or would it be a discounted rate?

This idea has been tossed around for our next Festival, *very* preliminary at the moment. I'm putting together an initial proposal and I'm wondering how (or if) it is being done elsewhere.

We are considering seeking sponsors to fund "scholarships" which would be in the form of workshop vouchers for the successful applicant.

If you offer scholarships, what are your criteria for applicants?

Have you seen this kind of thing being done and what were your reactions to it?

Wondering what does Bhuz think??

I have given out "scholarships" every year at my event, but it hasn't been a very formal process. I know that Tori, organizer of the Tribal Massive, had a video submission process for her event, but it was Rachel Brice who chose the recipient of the scholarship.

I think that scholarships are a great way to "give back" to the community and to support others.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts, you having given me some more things to think about. I think we'll need to create a very clear idea of what our criteria for eligibility will be.

Thanks Ainsley for the scholarship/bursary explanation. I feel we're looking at a combination, something that will give people the chance to attend who would otherwise not be able to, and an encouragement for promising, up & coming dancers.

Off to do some more cogitating ...