Fourteen students from northern Southeast Alaska — 10 from Juneau and four from Skagway — have been awarded a total of $7,000 in scholarship money for their artistic pursuits.
The Juneau Community Foundation and the Brady family of Skagway announced the winners of the Margaret Frans Brady Art Scholarship on Friday afternoon.
“It’s an honor for us to be able to assist these young artists from our region in pursuing their goals,” Jeff Brady, committee chair of the Margaret Frans Brady Art Scholarship, said in a release. “At a time when it seems the arts are under siege at the federal level, we need to make sure that support never falters at the local and state level.”
The Margaret Frans Brady Fund was established in 2012 at the Juneau Community Foundation to support arts and education projects and programs in Skagway and northern Southeast Alaska. A separate MFB Scholarship Fund was established a year later to assist students and artists in our area with scholarships to help them improve their creative abilities. Including this year’s awards, a total of $31,950 has been awarded to 43 area students since the scholarship was started in 2013.
Here’s the list of awardees:
• Abigail Hoy, Juneau – Abigail, an accomplished high school musician, has entertained audiences with her singing in All-State Choir, and with her bass and bassoon playing in honor bands, orchestras and the Juneau Symphony. She will be attending Northwestern State (La.) in the fall with an emphasis on music education. $500
• Brita Fagerstrom, Juneau – Brita, a sophomore musical theatre major at Sam Houston State in Texas, has a range of artistic talents from acting to designing props, sets and makeup for productions. $300
• Dakota “Cody” Johnson, Juneau – Dakota is graduating from high school as a junior in order to pursue her dream of becoming a dancer. Her talents have already been seen with the Juneau Dance Theatre, and she has been accepted at the Alonzo King Lines Ballet in San Francisco. $1,000
• Finn Morley, Juneau – Finn is already a fine cellist at the developmental age of 13 and will be honing his skills this summer at the Rocky Ridge Music Center in Colorado. $400
• Kara Whitehead, Skagway – Kara is a member of Skagway High School’s accomplished Drama, Debate and Forensics team. Her powerful speech on ALS and her family’s experience with the disease won every meet she entered this past school year, including a state championship in expository speaking. She will be attending High School Drama Debate and Forensics National Competition in Alabama this summer. $1,000
• Katrina Buchanan, Juneau – Katrina, an accomplished visual artist, is pursuing a Bachelor in Fine Arts at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. $500
• Kyle Farley-Robinson, Juneau – Kyle, a high school sophomore, earned a command performance in piano at last year’s Southeast Music Festival and will continue to develop his playing for a second straight summer at the Adamant Music Camp in Vermont. $400
• Mina Yee, Skagway – Mina, a 7-year-old who is learning the violin very fast, dazzled the audience at the recent International Mini Folk Festival in Skagway. She will be continuing her lessons in the Suzuki method this summer in Whitehorse (through Skagway Arts Council). $400
• Misha Culver, Juneau – Misha, an amazing dancer, is now in her junior year at Marymount Manhattan in New York – where her interest has shifted toward arts therapy. $500.
• Noatak Post, Juneau – Noatak, a high school sophomore, is an accomplished violin and viola player. He was an all-state performer in 2016 and also played with the Juneau Symphony. He will attend Sitka Fine Arts Camp this summer. $400
• Peyton Rodig, Skagway– Peyton, an eighth grade bass player at Skagway School, will be attending Girls Rock Camp in Haines for the second straight summer. $300
• Rachel “Ray” Friedlander, Douglas – Rachel is an ambitious young woman who has blended photography, film and her own writing to make video poetry. She has been accepted into the graduate professional program at UCLA in screenwriting. $500
• Summer Putnam, Juneau – Summer, a visual artist and high school senior, has been president of the Art Club and active in Artfest each spring. After attending an architecture camp last summer, she made it her goal to pursue that field in college so she can bring her talents home as an architect. She will be attending the University of Oregon in Eugene in the fall. $500
• Tatum Sager, Skagway – Tatum, a seventh grade vocalist at Skagway School, has been singing the national anthem at high school basketball games since she was in elementary school. She will be attending Girls Rock Camp in Haines for the second straight summer. $300
To learn more about staring a fund at the Juneau Community Foundation, contact Amy Skilbred at amy@juneaucf.org or 907-523-5450.
