For the 14th straight year, Starlight Theatre will award $2,500 performing arts scholarships to ethnically diverse middle school students across the metro. Qualified Kansas City students in grades 6, 7 and 8 are invited to apply by Friday, March 29, for a Vincent Legacy Scholarship.
Longtime Starlight supporters and community leaders Greg and Rebecca Reid created the Vincent Legacy Scholarship Fund at Starlight in 2006. Each scholarship provides youth who show performing arts promise the opportunity to refine and improve their skills through professional instruction. To date, Starlight has awarded 36 scholarships with a total value of $87,500.
To qualify, students must meet ethnic and financial-need criteria, exhibit a passion for the performing arts, maintain a grade point average of B/3.0 or higher, be free of unexcused school absences, and demonstrate interest in community service.
All applications received by the March 29 deadline will be reviewed; selected finalists will be invited to audition at Starlight on May 4. Later that month, Starlight will award two or more scholarships to pay for dance, voice and/or acting training for the recipients.
Four Vincent Legacy Scholarships were awarded in 2018. Winners were Erica Brown of Grandview Middle School, Natalia Castaneda of Congress Middle School in the Park Hill district, James Hawkins of D.D. Eisenhower Middle School in Kansas City, Kan., and Tahraji Milsap of the Ewing Marion Kauffman School in Kansas City, Mo.
Visit kcstarlight.com/education to learn more about the Vincent Legacy Scholarship program and past scholarship recipients.