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posted: 9/22/2009 | updated:
2010 MFAA Student Nomination Forms Now Available Online!
Click on "Apply" to download 2010 Student Nomination Forms. The process for nominating students to the Missouri Fine Arts Academy has changed significantly from past years. The information below is detailed in the 2010 Student Nomination Form.
GENERAL INFORMATION:
Program: Missouri Fine Arts Academy (MFAA) is a three-week summer residential program on the campus of Missouri State University for 150 of Missouri's artistically talented rising high school juniors and seniors. Both discipline-specific and interdisciplinary arts instruction is provided, as well as a wide array of performances, student presentations and exhibitions, art shows, workshops, and social events. MFAA is conducted with the cooperation of the Missouri State Board of Education, the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, and Missouri State University. Funding comes from an appropriation by the Missouri legislature, from Missouri State University, and from nomination and tuition fees. Some needs-based scholarships are available for qualified students.
Dates: June 6-June 26, 2010.
Location: Missouri State University; Springfield, Missouri
Student Selection: Students are nominated by their schools and chosen to attend MFAA by a panel of artists and educators.
Student Body: The 2010 MFAA student body will be limited to 150.
College Credit: Students who successfully complete MFAA may receive three hours college credit (IDS 101-Interdisciplinary Seminar) from Missouri State University at no additional cost.
Missouri State University MFAA Scholarship: MFAA alumni who complete IDS 101 and who subsequently enroll as full-time students at Missouri State University will receive scholarships of three hours tuition credit during their first semester of full-time enrollment.
Fees and Scholarships: Cost per student at MFAA is $1,500. MFAA is partially supported by nomination fees and tuition fees.
Nomination fees: A $50 non-refundable nomination fee is required for each nominee. Nomination fees subsidize student scholarships. It is suggested that schools and districts provide nomination fees.
Tuition fees: Selected nominees pay tuition fees on a sliding scale.
* All selected nominees receive $300 scholarships. See Important Deadlines (following) for payment schedule of the remaining $1,200 tuition fee.
* Selected nominees who qualify for reduced price school meals may receive $1,200 scholarships. See Important Deadlines (following) for payment schedule of the remaining $300 tuition fee.
* Selected nominees who qualify for free school meals may receive $1,500 scholarships.
IMPORTANT DEADLINES:
* January 11, 2010: Postmark deadline for student nomination packets.
* February 8, 2010: Deadline for MFAA to notify all selected and non-selected nominees and school contacts. Wait list is maintained through March 1, 2010.
* February 15, 2010: Deadline for selected nominees to accept or decline invitation to MFAA.
* March 1, 2010: Deadline for MFAA to confirm wait-listed nominees.
* March 15, 2010: Postmark deadline for first tuition installment. Nominees who do not meet tuition deadline will be dropped from MFAA.
* March 16, 2010: 50% of all tuition fees will be returned for nominees who withdraw or are dropped between March 16 and May 15.
* April 15, 2010: Postmark deadline for second tuition installment. Nominees who do not meet tuition deadline will be dropped from MFAA.
* May 15, 2010: Postmark deadline for final tuition installment. Nominees who do not meet tuition deadline will be dropped from MFAA. No tuition fees are returned for nominees who withdraw or are dropped after May 15.
NOMINATION GUIDELINES:
School Nominations: MFAA students must be nominated through Missouri private or public schools, and schools must submit completed nomination packets to MFAA. Students may not submit their own nomination materials. Home schooled students may request nomination through Missouri public or private schools.
Grade Level Requirements: Current high school sophomores and juniors living in Missouri are eligible for nomination.
Number of Nominees: Missouri public and private schools may nominate an unlimited number of qualified students in one or more of the five areas of applied study offered at MFAA: dance, instrumental music, theatre performance, visual arts, and vocal music.
Mailing Requirements: Complete nomination packets must be postmarked by January 11, 2010 to Missouri Fine Arts Academy; 901 S. National Ave., Springfield, MO 65897.
posted: 9/22/2009 | updated:
MFAA Alumni Key to 2010 Success
MFAA alumni are key to ensuring the future of MFAA. Please help by encouraging talented high school sophomores and juniors to apply to the MFAA so that it can continue to provide a community where Missouri's finest young artists can gather for many years to come.
Student Nomination Forms are available for download on this website under "Apply."
With much respect and admiration,
Julie Bloodworth, Director
Missouri Fine Arts Academy
posted: 9/8/2009 | updated:
Haley Stevens succumbs to ALS Disease
Haley Elise Stevens, 17, lost her courageous two-year battle with ALS, or Lou Gehrig's Disease, on September 3, 2009,in Springfield, Missouri. Haley visited the 2009 Missouri Fine Arts Academy with her mother, Gretchen Teague, on Arts Advocacy and Community Service Day. Gretchen spoke to the MFAA students about the family's experience with ALS, and Haley and Gretchen were presented with a ceramic bowl representing the Academy's fund-raising project, selling hand-made bowls to benefit the ALS Association. A donation of $1,000.00 is being made to the ALS Association in Haley's name from the 2009 Missouri Fine Arts Academy Community. Haley's bright life and brave struggle are an inspiration to everyone who knew her. Condolence cards from MFAA community members will be delivered to the Teague family. Please send cards to: The Teague Family c/o Missouri Fine Arts Academy, 901 South National, Springfield, Missouri 65897. Donations to the ALS Association in Haley's name may be sent to Keith Worthington Chapter of the ALS Association, 1721 W. Elfindale St., Ste. 101, Springfield, MO 65807.
posted: | updated:
Open Letter from MFAA Parent
The following are excerpts from a letter written by Diane Marshall, parent of 2009 MFAA student, Emma WitbolsFeugen.
"One of the most important discoveries that young artists like my daughter make at MFAA is their connection with a great community of like-minded and purpose-driven young artists like themselves. Because true artists are few in proportion to the general population, they are often marginalized and isolated. I like to think of Missouri Fine Arts Academy as a "No Artist Left Behind" program because it unites art students of all stripes across Missouri based solely on artistic merit and character recommendation regardless of their ability to pay. Unfortunately this program is no longer free due to legislative cuts. This means that the program will be less democratic because once again, students of promise who are isolated in rural or inner city situations will not have the support needed to participate in programs like these.
To those legislators who regard art as a superfluous endeavor demanding a disproportionate amount of money benefitting a small segment of the population: You overlook the fact that art is the glue that holds all our enterprises together. It renders flags and logos and banknotes instantly recognizable; it puts a lump in your throat when anthems and arais soar; it dresses up political websites. It is the avant-garde that spawns endless cycles of imitation in the profitable fashion and media industries. It is the originality that supports both black market pirates and patent lawyers. Commerce would be a dull, sluggish business without the improbable ingenuity of artistic appearances. High art inhabits a rarified demi-monde but its lucrative influence is everywhere. None of the translation from the poetry of art to the prose of industry is possible without educated artists of all disciplines.
Sincerely,
Diane Marshall