A scholarship program is now accepting applications for high school students of color with a passion for the performing arts.
The Spark Artistic Mentorship Program Scholarship is open for incoming eighth to twelfth grade students during the 2026-2027 school year.
Katie Trzaska-Miller is the secretary of the board of directors. She said the program's goal is for students of color to have access to professional teaching resources.
"Find ways to help them overcome systemic and societal barriers that students of color traditionally face in life," She said.
The program provides students with mentorship, connections to regional art opportunities, a community of peers and funded access to professional performing arts training.
Trzaska-Miller said it could be different depending on what the student's goals and needs are.
"That could be working on monologues for college applications, or it could be dance training, or vocal training or musical instrument training," She said. "Anything within live performing arts."
Trzaska-Miller said the students are connected with professional teaching arts, either local or national.
The lessons would start for students in the fall of 2026, and run through the school year.
"Sometimes they're, you know, in the afternoon, evenings or on the weekends," Traska-Miller said.
The program was founded during the COVID-19 pandemic, and started working with students in fall 2021.
She said the program has worked with eight students in total, some have been for a year and others returned back to the program.
"We typically work with between two and four students in a year," Trzaska-Miller said.
Interested students can apply online by April 15.
