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SEIU Moe Foner Scholarship Program For Visual and Performing Arts

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SEIU is proud to offer a scholarship that continues the life’s work of  the late Moe Foner, who devoted himself to honoring working people through the arts.

The one-time, $5,000 Moe Foner Scholarship is awarded annually to SEIU members and their children who are pursuing a degree or training in the visual or pergorming arts, and who believe that the arts are an important vehicle for promoting cultural and social change.

As founder of the SEIU 1199 Bread and Roses Cultural Project, Foner used his energy and imaginatin to tap into New York's thriving artistic community. He recruited artists, such as Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, Harry Belafonte, Woody Guthrie, Ralph Fassenella, and Maya Angelou to bring new resonance to union concerts, exhibits, and publications, Foner's greatest genius lay in collaborating with artists to develop unique art forms to compellingly tell workers' stories. Foner helped build 1199 from 5,000 to 200,000 members, making it one of the strongest and most recognizable unions in the nation. Foner passes away in 2002 at the age of 86.

The Moe Foner Scholarship recipient will also be SEIU's guest at the Great Labor Arts Exchange. This three-day annual conference of labor artists and acivists is held each year near Washington, DC. It's sponsored by the Labor Heritage Foundation.

 Eligibility Criteria
Applicants for the Moe Foner Scholarship must be pursuing a degree or training in the visual or performing arts. Scholarship funding must be applied toward appropriate educational expenses at at two- or four-year college or university, community college, technical or trade school, or an alternate course of stusy or training program in an arts-related field.

Candidates should complete all sections of the scholarship application, and include:

1. A statement of 200 words or less describing your education and career goals in the visual or performing arts.  The statement should explain how you plan to use this education to improve the lives of working families and work for economic and social justice.

2. A high schoold transcript; and

3. One of the following:

• An essay of 500 words or less identifying a workplace issue and how you would use visueal and performing arts to reflect the stories and struggles of working people.  You may choose to draw from personal experience of a friend or family member, or;
  
• Six copies of your creative work (drawing, video, music, CD, or tape, etc.) showing how you would use visual or performing arts to capture a struggle workers face and reflec the stories of working people.  Photographs, slides and print samples must not be bigger than 8.5" X 11".  Tapes or CD's must not be longer than 10 minutes of vieweing or listening time.

 Selection Process
A selection committee will choose the scholarship recipient. The chief factors judged are originality, clarity, and commitment to social and economic justice in the workplace.

* Note:
You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open and read the scholarship application. If you do not have Acrobat Reader, you can access this free software by clicking on the graphic. You will only have to complete this process once.