Students can find a variety of scholarships based on artistic and academic excellence to offset the costs of pursuing an education in the arts.

“The arts, and music in particular, can be a very competitive field in terms of collegiate recruiting,” said Jeffrey Wright, head of the Department of Music and Performing Arts. “Like athletics, the most talented students are often sought after by many universities. We are happy to be able to have these scholarships available to recruit the best musicians that we can to campus and enrich the performing arts culture of both Southeastern and Hammond.”

A list of scholarships directed towards music majors can be found on the university website under the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. The scholarships range from the Herbert E. Cagle Memorial Endowed Scholarship in Music for people planning to teach music in public schools to the Catha-Lambert Endowment for Music aimed towards junior or senior music majors who are residents of the 6th district.

In addition to those scholarships, any student who successfully completes a season with the “Spirit of the Southland” marching band receives a $600 scholarship for the fall semester with no additional application required. Funding for the marching band scholarship has a budget separate from the departmental scholarship budget.

This year, the department introduced the Marjorie Galloway Scholarship for the Arts for incoming students. It awards five $1,000 scholarships to students in music and five $1,000 scholarships to students in fine arts.

Scholarship decisions are based on an audition before a panel of faculty members that all incoming students in music must complete. The audition form can be found on the university website.

“When we make a scholarship award to incoming students, we usually award the scholarship for eight semesters provided that the student remains in good academic standing and progresses toward a degree in music,” explained Wright. “Current students who may not be on scholarship can also apply for scholarship even after they have matriculated.”

For the Department of Visual Art and Design, the application process and a full listing of scholarships are being examined for the fall semester. When the application process is ready, the department will send an email to all art majors as well as mention it in the first art majors meeting.

Known scholarships for art majors include the Helen Entrikin Art Scholarship for juniors or seniors based on quality of creative work, GPA, financial need, and service to the department and community.

Students studying theatre can also find options to offset their educational costs. The Vonnie Borden Memorial Scholarship Fund in Theatre awards a student majoring in communication with a minimum 3.0 GPA. The Hymel G Falgoust Jr. Endowed Scholarship in Visual and Performing Arts and the Leola Purcell Endowed Scholarship in the Visual and Performing Arts also apply to students in theatre.

The Mary Lou Champagne Endowed Scholarship in Dance/Theater can be awarded to a full-time incoming freshman with a 2.75 GPA in high school or a current student who has demonstrated commitment by performing at the university. Potential recipients must first be interviewed by and audition with Keith “Skip” Costa, director of dance. The scholarship is awarded for both the fall and spring semester. It was the first university scholarship specific to the dance discipline.

Whether studying music, visual arts, theatre or dance, students can take advantage of these scholarship opportunities and find funding for their pursuance of artistic merit and academic excellence.