Top 263 Arts Scholarships in February 2025

These scholarships are aimed at financially supporting the academic and career goals of students who are currently studying, or interested in pursuing, the arts. 

Some of these scholarships might require you to submit a portfolio of your work to apply. Others might ask you to make a new piece of artwork in response to a specific prompt on the application. 

To apply for certain arts scholarships, you might have to be currently enrolled in a relevant degree program. However, there are plenty of scholarships that award prospective students who intend to pursue the arts—and even for students who pursue some form of art as a hobby as opposed to a career. 

No matter who you are, there are scholarship opportunities for arts students out there that fit you perfectly. You can improve your chances of winning scholarships by finding the opportunities that best match your qualifications and creating a strong and unique application that highlights what makes you special.

To refine your search and find arts scholarships that also match profile criteria like your home state, grade level, and more, get personalized scholarship recommendations on the Mos app. 

For an overview of just a few great scholarships open to arts students, plus some helpful tips for how to find and win arts scholarships, keep reading! 

Ten Arts Scholarships Mos Loves

1. YoungArts Arts Competition

   • The YoungArts Arts Competition provides $250 to $10,000 to literary or performing artists in grades 10–12 or be 15–18 years old. To apply, you should submit an online application, an audition, or a portfolio. If that sounds like a fit for you, apply!

2. Beinecke Scholarship Program

   • The Beinecke Scholarship Program is offered to a college junior pursuing a bachelor’s degree and planning to enter a research-focused master’s or doctoral program or MFA in the arts, humanities, or social sciences. You should contact your campus liaison for information regarding the procedure to be followed in selecting the school’s nominee.

3. NAACP Creative Sole Scholarship

   • NAACP Creative Sole Scholarship awards $5,000 to Black Students currently enrolled full-time at an accredited college. To qualify, you must be an NAACP member pursuing a career in creative fields such as art, music, journalism, marketing, design, communications, architecture, or film. Also, you must be a U.S. resident or citizen and have at least a 3.0 GPA. An essay and recommendations are required. Sounds perfect to you? Apply!

4. Wendy Alders Cartland Visual Arts Scholarship

   • The Wendy Alders Cartland Visual Arts Scholarship offers $5,100 to a low-income undergraduate or graduate student who is majoring in the visual arts and has non-profit, volunteering, or work experience involving the visual arts. BIPOC students are preferred. To apply, you must write an essay. 

5. The Foundation Scholarship Fund

   • The Foundation Scholarship Fund offers $2,000 to an undergraduate student at a nationally accredited degree-granting institution working towards a Bachelors degree in Fine Art, Art History, or Museum Studies, with a minimum 3.0 GPA. An essay or images of two original watercolor paintings and a transcript are required for the application. 

6. Catherine W. Pierce Scholarship

   • The Catherine W. Pierce Scholarship offers up to $3,400 to students who are majoring in disciplines within the Arts. To qualify, you must have a minimum GPA of 2.5 on a 4.0 scale and be pursuing a degree in Art, Art History, or Art Studies (similar majors not accepted). To apply, you must submit an essay. 

7. Elizabeth Furber Fellowship – Women studying Creative Fine Arts

   • The Elizabeth Furber Fellowship is offered to American Indian and Alaska Native female graduate students pursuing degrees full-time at an accredited institution in fine arts, visual works, crafts, music, performing arts and dance, literary arts, creative writing, and poetry. To qualify, you must be a member or a descendant of a federally or state-recognized American Indian Tribe or Alaska Native group. 

8. Henry & Chiyo Kuwahara Memorial Scholarship

   • The Henry & Chiyo Kuwahara Memorial Scholarship allows incoming freshmen to inspire creative projects highlighting the Japanese American experience and cultural representation. Applicants must demonstrate technical skills at the university level and cannot be professional artists. To apply, applicants must be active National JACL members and submit a personal statement and letter of recommendation.

9. The Dendel Scholarship

   • Scholarship funds of $4,000 or more are awarded annually for the academic year. Rather than financial need, scholarship funds are awarded based on artistic and technical excellence and/or on demonstrated excellence in research of textiles, textile history, and textile conservation. The Dendel Scholarship funds may be used for tuition as well as materials or travel as determined on a case-by-case basis. Applicants will be judged on their skill and dedication to handweaving.

10. CINTAS Foundation Fellowship in Creative Writing

    • This scholarship is open to creative artists of Cuban citizenship or direct lineage. To apply, you'll need to submit letters of recommendation, work samples and an artist statement. Go to the scholarship's website or contact your Mos advisor to learn more and apply!

Tips and Strategies for Applying for Arts Scholarships

Here’s a guide of what to consider when you’re applying for scholarships, how to apply, and a few practical tips on how to set yourself apart as a strong applicant.  

• When to Start Applying for Scholarships? Right Now!

If you want to win as much money as possible, you should start your scholarship search as early as possible. That way, you can avoid missing out on deadlines and give yourself plenty of time to get your application materials together. 

Basically, the best time to start applying to scholarships for arts students is right now! 

• Research Your Scholarships

The fact that you’re reading this guide means that you’re already doing your research. Great work! 

Plenty of organizations and foundations offer scholarships to arts students that belong to specific demographics or who live in specific areas. 

Use this page to search for scholarships for arts students that fit your profile, your financial goals, and your academic interests. 

It pays to be strategic about the scholarships you apply for instead of just applying for every single listing without checking the requirements first. For example, if you live in California it would be a waste of your time to apply for a scholarship that’s only for students in Minnesota. 

• It’s a Numbers Game 

Ultimately, the best way to boost your odds of winning scholarship money is to apply for as many opportunities as you can. 

This might seem to contradict the previous point, but it’s all about hitting the right balance between narrowing down your search and maximizing the amount of applications you actually send. 

Think about it this way: 

• Applying for one scholarship you qualify for is better than applying for ten scholarships you don’t qualify for. 

• Applying for ten scholarships you do qualify for is way better than applying for just the one.

• Make a Game Plan   

Being a student can be overwhelming. 

You’re busy all the time with commitments that include—but aren’t even limited to—class, studying, homework, social events, and jobs. It can be difficult to set aside time to apply for scholarships, which is why lots of students end up missing deadlines for scholarships they'd have a great chance of winning. 

To avoid falling behind on your academic and financial goals, be intentional about how often you apply for scholarships, what time you work on your applications, and much time you spend on them. Think of it as starting a new, healthy habit—like flossing your teeth or meditating. 

Set a personal goal for how many scholarships you want to apply for a week. 

Then, find a time in your schedule where it would be easy to integrate your new scholarship habit. For example, if you study every Tuesday night from 7-8, spend 15 minutes of that study time for scholarships. If you use Mos, that’s enough time to apply for 5 or more scholarships! 

• Track Your Scholarship Applications   

Once you identify all the opportunities you qualify for and make an application plan, keep track of your scholarship journey. The Mos app makes this easy by letting you save scholarships and track your application status, but you can also do this on your own with a physical list or a spreadsheet online. 

However you want to keep tabs on your scholarship applications, make sure to track their deadlines and application requirements. 

• Tailor Your Application 

Every scholarship will ask for its own set of application materials. 

Because of this, you shouldn’t just reuse the exact same essay or personal statement for every scholarship you apply for. 

Your application should highlight why you’re applying for the specific scholarship you’re applying for, not just why you’re applying for a scholarship in general. Explain how, if you receive the award, it will help you achieve a career or educational goal that aligns with the mission of the organization that’s offering the scholarship. 

For example, if you’re applying to a scholarship that was founded by or dedicated to a particular person, you should demonstrate that you’ve done research on who that person is, explain how their legacy inspires you, and outline the ways the scholarship would help you continue that legacy. 

That doesn’t mean that you have to start from scratch with every single application. You can use a previous essay or personal statement you’re proud of as a template for your future applications as long as you make meaningful changes to it that tailor it to a specific opportunity.  

For more on how to write a good personal statement, check out these resources: 

• Purdue Owl: Writing the Personal Statement

• College Essay Guy: How to Write a Personal Statement (Tips + Essay Examples)

• Highlight Your Achievements and Leadership Skills 

A scholarship application isn’t the place to be humble. 

Some scholarships for arts students ask for examples of your leadership skills, community involvement, or other achievements. Scholarship committees don’t know anything about you outside of the contents of your application. If there’s a certain accomplishment or quality you’re proud of, the only way to make sure they know about it is to tell them. 

That might seem obvious, but some students default to downplaying their own accomplishments. When you’re reading over your application form or your essay, make sure you include all of the (relevant) stuff you’d want the scholarship committee to take into consideration. 

If you’re having trouble with this, try doing a brain dump on a sheet of paper. Write down every single extracurricular activity, school event, hobby, volunteer position, and leadership role you can remember having. Then, circle the ones you’re the most proud of in red and circle the ones that are relevant to the scholarship you’re applying for in blue. Anything you circled twice should definitely make its way into your application. 

If that’s too hard, ask a friend, professor, or mentor to help you brainstorm a list of your accomplishments. The people who care about you will often be able to list a ton of amazing things about you that you might write off as “not that impressive.”  

• Prepare Your Documents and Transcripts 

If you want to apply for a scholarship that asks for samples of your work, check out these resources on putting together a good portfolio: 

• California College of the Arts

• Sotheby’s Institute of Art

• Artwork Archive

A lot of scholarships will also require you to submit financial documentation, academic transcripts, or both.

Need-based scholarships are aimed at students who don’t have the financial means to pay for college. The federal and state governments are two major sources of need-based aid, which they offer through the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). 

The FAFSA is a form that asks for a fair amount of personal information and financial info. Learn what documents you need for FAFSA on the Mos blog.  

Merit-based scholarships are meant to reward a student’s accomplishments—usually academic accomplishments, but there are plenty of merit-based scholarships that reward things like artistic talent or sports prowess too! A merit-based scholarship might ask for a transcript of your grades. 

If you’re currently enrolled in an undergraduate program, training program, or trade school, your transcript will probably be on your student portal.

If you’re not currently enrolled, email your former academic advisor or registrar’s office to ask for a copy of your transcript.

Make sure you have all necessary documents ready before a scholarship’s deadline. Ask for your transcript a few weeks in advance to avoid missing out on money you qualify for.

• Follow Directions Carefully 

Scholarship applications often have specific formatting requirements. 

A few examples of requirements you might run into: 

• A portfolio. Example: An arts scholarship that requires you to include 3-5 charcoal drawings you’ve done, all scanned and uploaded as a single file. 

• Essay word count. Example: A scholarship that specifies that your essay can’t be over 500 words. 

• File format. Example: A scholarship that only accepts application forms that are uploaded as PDFs. 

If you don’t submit an application that matches all of the submission requirements, you run the risk of being disqualified, no matter how strong of an applicant you are. 

Think about it from the scholarship committee’s perspective: if they get a lot of strong applications from students who are all equally deserving of the award, they might end up falling back on technicalities like word count to decide who to eliminate from the candidate pool. Don’t give them any reason to throw out your application. 

Carefully read over all of the submission instructions when you’re putting together your application. If it helps, make a list of every separate requirement and check them off as you apply. Before you hit submit, check your application over one last time just to be safe. 

• Ask for Strong References 

Some scholarships for arts students will ask you for letters of recommendation from professors, mentors, or other figures in your life. 

When you’re deciding who to ask for a letter of recommendation, think about the people who you’ve known for a longer time and who have witnessed your accomplishments firsthand. A professor who’s seen you work hard and improve over the course of two years is probably a better option than a professor who only had you for one class last year. 

You can set up your recommenders to write you the best letter possible by telling them what kind of qualities or achievements the scholarship provider is looking for, and by sending them a polite email reminder about your recommendation a couple weeks before the scholarship’s deadline.

You can also set yourself up to get a stronger recommendation by building your relationships with your potential references. Regularly going to a professor’s office hours is a great way to distinguish yourself as a diligent student to them.

• Pay Attention to Deadlines 

Scholarships usually have firm deadlines, and it’s pretty rare for them to accept late submissions. 

We already mentioned the importance of tracking deadlines earlier, but one more tip to avoid missing deadlines is to set yourself a personal deadline that’s a day or two before the official deadline. That way, you can avoid the frantic race to finish your application before midnight on the due date, and you have a grace period of a few days to work on your application if life gets busy. 

Other Sources of Financial Aid for Arts Students 

Scholarships aren’t the only way to fund your education. 

For information on other financial aid resources, check out The Mos Financial Aid Roadmap: 8 Ways to Get Money for College. 

Apply Faster on the Mos app 

When you apply for more than one scholarship, you have to fill out the same information over and over again. Even if it only takes a few minutes every time, those minutes add up. Plus, it can make the whole process feel like a mind-numbing slog instead of an exciting chance to spotlight the achievements and qualities that make you special as an applicant. 

When you sign up for Mos, you only have to fill out your information once. Then, every time you apply for a scholarship, the app auto-fills your information into the application. This means that applications can take as little as a few seconds! With every scholarship you apply to, your odds of winning money for college from one of them go up (remember, it’s partially a numbers game). And with every scholarship you apply to on Mos, the amount of time you save goes up right alongside those odds. 

Related Scholarship Categories

• Merit scholarships

• California scholarships 

• Graduate scholarships

• Scholarships for high school seniors 

• Scholarships for women