The Nova Scotia Talent Trust is a small-but-mighty
organization that has supported over 1000 emerging artists to pursue their
dreams in music, dance, literary arts, visual arts, theatre, and film. Each year we receive hundreds of applications
and award thousands of dollars in scholarships and special awards to the
applicants who show the most potential in their respective disciplines. But how does it all work?
Let’s start at the beginning:
How the Talent Trust began…
In 1944, members of the Halifax Ladies Club,
along with voice teacher Dr. Ernesto Vinci, successfully advocated the city of
Halifax and the province of Nova Scotia to provide financial support for vocalist
Portia White to pursue studies in New York. Portia ascended to become one of
the best singers of the 20th century. The province recognized the
difference their support made in Portia White’s career and founded the Nova
Scotia Talent Trust on May 2, 1944, to help other deserving and talented Nova
Scotians succeed.
NSTT's first directors included provincial and
municipal government representatives and its initial source of funds was a
grant from the Province of Nova Scotia.
In 1994, the Talent Trust was restructured to include the Scholarship
Selection Committee, an arm’s length group that would review the applications
and disperse the scholarships. In 2002, the Board decided to appoint
a Chair from the community. Timothy C.
Matthews was elected as the Board Chair, and now serves as Honourary Lifetime
Director of Nova Scotia Talent Trust and Chair of the NSTT Foundation. The
Talent Trust became fully independent and opened its own office in 2010.
Where does the scholarship and special award money come from?
The partnership between the Talent Trust and the government –
specifically, Arts Nova Scotia – allows NSTT to direct nearly all financial resources
to scholarships. Arts NS covers NSTT’s
administration expenses and contributes to the scholarship program.
Named Scholarships
The Arts Endowment Fund Scholarships are funded by the
Creative Nova Scotia Leadership Council.
These five scholarships are $2,000 each.
The CN Community Fund Scholarship established this
scholarship in 2021 with a grant of $25,000 that was invested in the NSTT Foundation. This investment will fund the $1,000 annual
named scholarship in perpetuity.
The Curtis Botham Scholarship is a one-time, $1,000
scholarship that was generously donated by visual artist and past Talent Trust
recipient, Curtis Botham.
General Scholarships
In 2022, the Talent Trust awarded $59,000 in scholarships in
addition to the named scholarships noted above.
This amount can vary year to year and is funded through several sources:
- Individual donations and community fundraisers: 39%
- Arts NS: 29%
- Foundations and corporate donations: 27%
- NSTT Foundation: 5%
Special Awards
The 2011 Canada Games Young Artist of Excellence Awards were
established in 2012 by the 2011 Canada Games Legacy Fund Committee. This award of $10,000 was to be given to two
recipients annually for 10 years. 2022 will
be the final year for this award.
Some of the special awards such as the RBC Emerging Artist /
BIPOC Emerging Artist Award, Theatre NS Award, and Portia White Award are
funded on an annual basis. Other special
awards, such as the Charlotte Wilson-Hammond/VANS Award, Kenneth Elloway Award,
and Raymond Simpson Award are established with a donation and topped up
annually by friends and family of the original donor. The rest of the special awards such as the
Shelagh MacKenzie Award and James Burchill Award are established with an investment
to the NSTT Foundation. The dividends of
that investment funds the annual award in perpetuity.
How are the scholarship and special
award recipients chosen?
The Scholarship
Selection Committee
The SSC is an arm’s length, volunteer group that is
comprised of 12 professional artists from the disciplines of Music, Dance,
Theatre, Film, Visual Arts, and Literary Arts.
Each member serves a 2-year term.
The SSC meets three times a year: twice to review
scholarship applications, and once to determine the special awards recipients.
Once the applications have been submitted, the SSC members
begin reviewing them independently using a scoring system. Each member comes prepared to the meeting
with a score and feedback for each applicant in their discipline. The
applications are then reviewed again at the meeting and the SSC engages in
collaborative discussion about each submission until a final score is agreed
upon.
Dispersing the Funds
The Scholarship Selection Committee starts with the
highest-scoring applicants and decides the amount of scholarship funding for
each. They do this by reviewing the
applicant’s funding request and budget provided in the application. Each year the funding requests far exceed the
amount the Talent Trust has available, so the SSC members strive to allocate
scholarship amounts that will make an impact in the artists’ studies. The scholarship recipients are announced each
September.
Special Award
Selection
The Scholarship Selection Committee again reviews the applications
of the scholarship recipients. They are
given a list of the available special awards and eligibility criteria for each. The SSC then has a discussion to determine
the recipient of each award, led by the SSC members representing the discipline
for that particular award. The
recipients are announced at the Special Awards Ceremony each December.
What happens after someone wins a
scholarship?
Emerging artists who have not completed their studies are
welcome to apply again each year. Once
an artist completes their studies and/or becomes a professional artist, they
become Talent Trust Alumni! While they
are no longer eligible to apply for a scholarship, the Talent Trust will
continue to support and promote all past recipients. Many past recipients stay involved with the
Talent Trust by joining the Board, helping to fundraise, volunteering at live
events, or being involved with special projects like our blog or Artist
Spotlight.
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