The Battell Arts Foundation accepting scholarship application

By Tom Hodgkin

Amelia Benedict loved art from the beginning.  In her first years, it was finger painting and play dough.  Then, after art classes in grade school, her interest turned to oil painting, sculpture, and ceramic hand building.  But when she first tried throwing clay on the potter’s wheel, she fell in love.  She says, “When my hands make contact with the clay on the wheel, I begin an intimate pursuit.  I feel one with the earth.  It is the one time I can forget about any problems I might have and not worry about anything except finding perfection in the form I create.”

This desire to continue “finding perfection” led Benedict in the summer of 2011 to IS 183, an arts education center in Stockbridge, Mass.,  where she hoped to take advanced classes on the potter’s wheel.  However, tight family finances and other priorities meant the $500 course might have to be forgotten.  That is when Benedict heard about the Battell Arts Foundation Youth (BAF) Scholarships, designed to encourage artistic enterprises in young people.  After describing  her situation in her application, Benedict won one of the two scholarships awarded that spring.  After her summer course, she wrote the scholarship committee, “I cannot thank you enough for allowing me the opportunity to further my craft with such a knowledgeable and inspirational teacher.”

Benedict is only one of 12 local young people who have benefitted from the Battell Art Foundation Youth Scholarships since the program was established in the fall of 2010.  Other applicants have used their awards to pay for private lessons, cover costs for workshops, attend instructional presentations and festivals, or even pay for instruments or art supplies.  Students have travelled to New York City to attend workshops, enrolled in classes at Hartt School of Music, and engaged in intensive private study.  All of them have pursued a passion for some kind of artistic endeavor.  And all of them, like Benedict, have been afforded these opportunities by virtue of the generous support available from their community.

The BAF Youth Scholarships are awarded twice a year in the amount of a $500 grant to young people from Norfolk or Colebrook.  These scholarships are intended to foster engagement and study in an artistic enterprise beyond the applicant’s school curriculum.  Any individuals with an interest in pursuing a specific artistic endeavor – whether it be in music, visual arts, drama, or literature – are encouraged to apply.

Currently, the organization is soliciting applications for its spring awards, with a due date of April 1.  Applicants must be under the age of 18, and submit a letter of application and an accompanying recommendation.  For  full application information and criteria, call  860-542-1222 or Hodgkin.Tom@gmail.com.