Iowa Arts Council Scholarship for the Arts applications due Feb. 1

Iowa high school students planning to enter college next fall with a major in an arts discipline can apply for a 2013 Iowa Scholarship for the Arts by Friday, Feb. 1, 2013.

The Iowa Arts Council offers the scholarship annually to Iowa students who will graduate from high school during the 2012-2013 academic year and have a proven artistic ability in dance, literature, music, theater, traditional arts or visual arts. The application is available at www.iowaartscouncil.org.

Each recipient will receive $1,500 toward his or her 2013-2014 college tuition and related expenses as a full-time undergraduate at a fully accredited Iowa college or university with a major in one or more of the disciplines considered for the award.

To be considered for the award, students must complete the scholarship application available at www.iowaartscouncil.org, write an essay about their future career goals in the arts, provide a work sample and include two letters of recommendation.

Applications and attachments are due by 4:30 p.m., Friday, Feb. 1, 2013, in the Iowa Arts Council offices at 600 E. Locust Street, Des Moines, IA 50319. Incomplete, illegible, handwritten or faxed applications will not be accepted. Application review, criteria, approval and notification process information is available at www.iowaartscouncil.org. Please contact Veronica O’Hern at 515-281-3293 or veronica.ohern@iowa.gov for more information.

The Iowa Scholarship for the Arts was established in conjunction with a benefit concert by world-renowned opera singer Simon Estes for the state of Iowa’s Homecoming ’86 celebration. Two years later, IAC established an endowment to guarantee perpetual funding of the program. Initial partners that contributed funds to establish the endowment included Two Rivers Arts Festival and Raccoon River Brewing Company in Des Moines, the Ameristar Casino in Council Bluffs, and private donations by Iowa Arts Council board members and private citizens.