Searching for Art School Funding Online
When it comes to doing your own search, there are a few things that you need to keep in mind:
1. Most art funding doesn’t come in the form of your everyday ’scholarship’. There is usually some form of competition or portfolio submission involved. You must be prepared to submit samples of your work and/or write about it.
Make sure you have decent digital images that have been color-corrected and saved at at LEAST 150dpi, full-size. This will allow for easy viewing and printing of your work by the judging panels. Make sure you have a JPG or TIFF version of each, along with a possible PDF for the internet-disinclined.
2. It is best to use the appropriate keywords while using a search engine. Searching using only the word ’scholarship’ after your type of art will bring up mostly descriptions of scholarships that are offered by specific colleges to their students.
To start, choose a search keyword that describes the type of art you make. Examples of this could be ‘graphic design’, ‘illustration’, ‘interdisciplinary sculpture’, ‘fiber arts’, etc. If you consider yourself more than one ’style’ of artist (and really, who doesn’t? I myself am a Graphic Designer, Photographer and digital artist that likes to draw), you will end up doing more than one search.
After you’ve decided on the art-keyword to use, begin your search by entering that word into the search field, along keywords such as ‘competition’, ’student’, etc. Other helpful keywords to try in any combination are ’scholarship’, ‘grant’, ‘contest’ and ‘award’.
By using the words ’student’ and ‘competition’ together, you are searching for scholarships, grants, awards that are offered to winners of student art competitions.
3. Don’t forget in your searches to keep an eye on your favorite arts publications and websites. Many of them offer student contests on a yearly basis. Winning, high placement or honorable mentions will usually get you some kind of mention in the winners issue!
4. Pay attention to your local art scene and the community around the school you are attending/applying to. Many cities have more art fairs and similar events than you could ever go to. For this reason, it is a good idea to perform a city search to find out what the local offerings are. Many arts fairs don’t require the exhibitors to be local. There are usually open submissions for different themes that may be involved. There are also usually monetary prizes. Don’t overlook your local Farm Fair!! There is always an arts contest!
While these prizes aren’t necessarily ’scholarships’, they are money that you can put towards funding your education. Not to mention: even if you only submit your work to local galleries, there is the opportunity to market and sell your work, therefore gaining recognition. No publicity is ever bad publicity, right?
For more tips and resources on scholarships go to: http://usaprivatescholarships.blogspot.com/