Herb Alpert Foundation Provides $315,000 in College Scholarships to California's Top High School Artists

LOS ANGELES, September 20, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- 21 outstanding high school students at the California State Summer School for the Arts have been awarded Herb Alpert Scholarships for Emerging Young Artists (EYA Awards). These scholarships, ranging from $2,500 to $40,000, help provide aspiring young artists the financial ability to pursue their academic and artistic dreams in higher education.

The California State Summer School for the Arts (CSSSA) is a four-week, residential program attended each summer by 500 high schoolers from throughout the state. Students specialize in one of seven tracks: Animation, Film, Dance, Music, Theater, Creative Writing, or Visual Arts. At the end of the session, one outstanding student from each discipline is awarded a $40,000 scholarship, and two additional students per discipline receive a $2,500 award.

The 2019 Herb Alpert Emerging Young Artists were selected at the end of CSSSA's 33rd summer session based on artistic talent, character and motivation, likeliness of success in college or a professional training program, and financial need.

Sedona Cruz, a senior at Cathedral City High School in Palm Springs, received the 2019 $40,000 scholarship in Film. She said, upon receiving the award, "I couldn't believe it. 'Me?' I thought to myself, realizing that I was Charlie, and I had been lucky enough to receive the golden ticket for a future I have always dreamed of.

"Thank you for supporting kids like me to be their true selves, thank you for the faith you have in young artists who are working so hard to make a change, and thank you for allowing us to believe in our dreams and make them a reality."

All scholarship recipients receive professional one-on-one financial aid consulting and college counseling through the California State Summer School Arts Foundation, which also provides funding and program support to CSSSA, its students, and its alumni. Approximately 40% of students each year receive financial aid to attend the summer arts program, which offers a unique opportunity to spend one month immersed in a creative laboratory experiencing the inspiring and rigorous daily life of a professional artist.

Since 1987, CSSSA has graduated over 16,000 students, including Katharine McPhee, Kirsten Vangsness, renowned poet and author Morgan Parker, and award-winning animators Alex Hirsch and Adrian Molina. CSSSA and the CSSSA Foundation are committed to equipping talented young talented artists with the technical tools and financial resources to pursue successful ventures in the creative industries.

The Herb Alpert Foundation shares this commitment to supporting these future creative leaders. Since 2008, it has provided over $4 million to CSSSA students in college scholarships and support. These students have gone on to attend schools including NYU Tisch, Rhode Island School of Design, CalArts, Stanford, Yale, and Harvard. The Herb Alpert Foundation also provides an annual gift of $50,000 to support low-income, financial need scholarships for students to attend the CSSSA session.

"We are dedicated to serving young people to help them reach their potential and lead productive, fulfilling lives replete with empathy, compassion, mutual respect, tolerance and kindness," says Rona Sebastian, President of the Herb Alpert Foundation. "CSSSA provides high school students the opportunity to hone their skills while opening minds to new perspectives and nurturing confidence and community."

Applications will be available for the 2020 CSSSA summer session beginning December 2019 at http://www.csssa.org. To learn more about the Herb Alpert Scholarship for Emerging Young Artists, our alumni, or to donate, visit csssaf.org.

SOURCE Herb Alpert Foundation