College Scholarship

Mooresville Arts announces an annual College Scholarship beginning in 2026. This scholarship will award up to $5,000 to an area high school senior enrolling in a fine art program at the college level in Fall 2026. This is a merit-based scholarship.

Eligibility: 

Limited to current high school seniors who reside in any of the following North Carolina counties: Catawba, Iredell, Lincoln, Mecklenburg, Rowan. Student must enroll in a fine art program at a 4-year college or university in Fall 2026, with the intent to study visual arts, which can include drawing, painting, photography, sculpture, mixed-media, or other visual arts. Film-making, musical arts, and performance arts are not eligible.

Application Process:

The application consists of 3 components: an online questionnaire, submitting 5-10 images of the student’s artwork, and emailing 2 letters of recommendation. Artwork images should be emailed to gallery@mooresvillearts.org, with the subject line of “Mooresville Arts College Scholarship: Artwork Images: Student Name.” Please only send ONE email with artwork images. One of the letters of recommendation should come from an art instructor familiar with the student’s work. The other letter can come from any adult who can speak to the student’s drive, vision, work ethic etc. This could be a teacher, coach, employer, or leader of a club, church group or other organization. 

Recommendation letters must be submitted directly to Mooresville Arts at gallery@mooresvillearts.org, with the subject line of “Mooresville Arts College Scholarship: Letter of Recommendation: Student Name.” 

The Mooresville Arts Scholarship committee, which consists of Board members and Gallery Committee members, will review applications in late February to select up to 3 finalists. Those finalists will be asked to create a self-portrait project, which they will present to the committee the week of April 13, 2026.  

Other:

Applicant does not need to have taken classes or participated in exhibitions at Mooresville Arts.

The Committee may decide to award more than 1 student, with the total scholarship amount awarded being not more than $5,000. Conversely, Mooresville Arts reserves the right to award no scholarship any given year, depending on quality of submissions. 

Questions:

Please contact us at gallery@mooresvillearts.org or at 704 663 6661 with any questions.

Important Dates:
Application opens: January 12, 2026 
Application deadline:  February 15, 2026
Finalists selected and notified:  By March 1, 2026
Scholarship awardee(s) notified: By May 8, 2026