Finding Fine Art Scholarships

Most students specifically have no idea what they would be studying if they obtained fine art scholarships for college. If you will be studying dance, theatre, music, painting, sculpting, or even architecture, you will be studying fine arts. Fine Arts are defined as a visual work of art, including performing arts, since it is visual. If you will be studying any of these arts and looking for student fiancial aid you should be looking for scholarships for fine arts.

Start your search for ‘fine arts scholarships’ at the school you will be attending, or the school that you already attend. This is almost always the best source for scholarship funding, because these scholarships for fine arts are only available to students at the school, which significantly reduces the amount of competition that you will have for these awards. Naturally, you would check with the art department for these scholarships, but make sure that you check with the financial aid office as well. If you are attending an art school instead of a traditional university, realize that these schools also have fine art scholarship opportunities, as well as ‘in-house’ competitions that will award tuition money.

Next, you should check with art associations and civic groups in your local area, and then branch out to regional groups, state groups, national groups, and then international groups. The further you branch out, the more competition you can expect. Some of these groups offer fine art scholarships based on the strength and quality of your work, or your portfolio, while others use different criteria, such as financial need to select the winners. Make sure that you also check with professional organizations related to your specific art form as well.

Art Festivals and competitions can be quite lucrative, but the larger the event is, the less likely you are to win. Make a list of the competitions that meet your skills, and then carefully consider which ones are worth your time and effort. Do not be afraid of the competitions that offer large amounts, even though they are the most competitive, but at the same time, don’t overlook those that offer much smaller prizes, with the realization that numerous small awards can add up to a great deal of tuition money, and many artists will ignore those competitions that offer ‘small’ awards, making your chances of winning fine art scholarships much greater.

For example, $200 doesn’t sound like a great deal of money when you compare that amount to what your college education will cost, but ten such awards is $2000. Twenty of these awards equal $4000. It all adds up, and in many cases, it is just a matter of entering an existing piece of work, or your portfolio, along with the application and other requested documentation, so it does not require a great deal of your time.

Don’t ignore scholarship opportunities that have nothing to do with fine art. Check with your employer, your parent’s employers, organizations that you belong to, heritage foundations, local businesses and more. Consider your other interests and talents in your search for scholarships, including your academic work, your work in the community, and anything else that applies to your life, which may net you numerous additional scholarships.

Even though the fine arts is varied this may help you in winning more fine art college scholarships because you may qualify for many more then one art scholarship to apply to.