A
REGIONAL REPORT
SPOKANE VALLEY ARTS COUNCIL
fter consulting with Jill and her
husband Doug, a powerhouse team of
artist-entrepreneurs who have made a
successful life-business in the arts, the
arts council plans to expand not just the
number of scholarships that it offers, but
the types of scholarships. Instead of simply
offering scholarships to students with a
declared degree emphasis in the arts, the
council plans to offer a scholarship to
college students to purchase equipment or
supplies to assist them in furthering their
career after college graduation.
Each scholarship amount is slated
for $1,000. Winners will be selected
in conjunction with the annual Artist
Showcase Auction that the Spokane
Valley Arts Council hosts at CenterPlace
Regional Event Center in Spokane Valley.
The artwork of the scholarship winners
will be on view and those who attend the
auction vote on their favorite art piece.
The student whose work receives the most
votes is awarded the Lynn Baiter Memorial
Scholarship, which is an additional $1,000.
Their artwork is also for sale, with proceeds
split between the artist and to benefit the
scholarship program.
Former rules of the scholarship, such
as only one entrant per school, and the
scholarship only being offered to students
in high schools in Spokane Valley, have
been lifted. The scholarship boundaries
have been extended to include the entire
Inland Empire, defined as a region of
the Pacific Northwest centered on the
Greater Spokane Area, which includes
all of Eastern Washington and North
Idaho. The scholarship is open to current
college students and high school graduates
with a declared major in the arts. The
newly updated scholarship program is
the beginning of a new experiment and
hopefully a new era for the Spokane Valley
Arts Council in its goal to empower local
artists to further enrich the community
with diversity in quality art.
A special thanks to the critical input of Jill and Doug Smith of ClayFox Clay School and
Denny Carman for collaboration on this article. For more information regarding the
scholarships offered by The Spokane Valley Arts Council, please visit
www.spokanevalleyarts.org
May | June 2019
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