Mr. Kenan was proficient in a wide range of fields. A scientist and business leader, he appreciated and enjoyed the arts, participating in the glee club as a student and delighting in the practice of photography. He understood the value of the arts as a field of study, practice, or for pleasure.
With a steady decline of funding, arts education today faces many challenges. The Kenan Trust offers support at both ends of the higher ed pipeline—access to study arts in higher education through scholarships and support to bridge the gap to professional practice for newly graduated artists entering the career space. We support:
- Access projects that include scholarships or bridge programs for students interested in pursuing an arts education at a college or university
- Career training for students who wish to pursue the arts as a career; projects that may include support for career coaches and mentors, for fellowship opportunities, or for projects that provide basic needs support to young artists
Grants in this area are by invitation only, and grant sizes vary depending on the capacity of the applying organization and the scope and reach of the proposed project.
Featured Grant in Arts in Higher Education: Lincoln Center
For nearly two decades, the Trust has been supporting The Kenan Fellowship at the Lincoln Center for recent graduates from University of North Carolina School of the Arts. The annual six-month Kenan Fellowship seeks to provide emerging artists with knowledge of aesthetic education that will prepare them for work as artists in the field of arts and education.
Each Kenan Fellow is paired with an individual mentor chosen from the Institute’s teaching artists and staff. Immersion in the Lincoln Center Education’s rigorous methodology prepares Fellows for careers as arts educators and performers, and alumni have gone on to build successful lives as performers, creators, teaching artists, founders and leaders of their own organizations, and everything in between. Fellows benefit from networking opportunities and enjoy the chance to prepare and perform a personal project in their chosen field as their capstone experience.
