SAMRO BURSARIES HIGHEST YET

Endowment for the National Arts awards record amount of over R900,000 in study bursaries this year.

SAMRO’s Endowment for the National Arts (SENA) has awarded the record amount of over R900,000 in study bursaries this year to over 100 music students. These music bursaries and the Overseas Scholarships, awarded by SENA every year since 1963, constitute South Africa’s largest music education awards.

Later this year, the scholarships will grant R160,000 each to two of South Africa’s hottest up-and-coming keyboard players to study music at an international institution. This is separate from the bursary scheme, which offers smaller amounts to a greater number of applicants to supplement their music study fees at South African universities.

The bursaries have helped kick-start the careers of artists such as Marcus Wyatt, Concord Nkabinde, Andile Yenana, Melanè Hofmeyr-Burger and Angela Gilbert. Frequently, recipients use the bursary as a stepping stone to the Overseas Scholarships competition – proving that SENA’s music education awards can nurture a career on several levels.

A number of SAMRO Music Study Bursaries are awarded every year to deserving candidates who wish to pursue full-time music study at a South African university. More than 230 applications were received (compared to 138 in 2008), and 101 were awarded bursaries, with an average value of R9 000. SENA Manager André le Roux attributes the marked increase in applications to hard work on SENA’s part, resulting in heightened awareness and better marketing of the grants.

“The need out there is great, and there are large numbers of students studying music,” he says. “SAMRO is committed to reinvest in the value of music. It feels good to be part of encouraging young people to study music in addition to our continued support for the music industry and the preservation of our musical heritage through the SAMRO Music Archive.”

The bursaries are offered in both the Western Art and Jazz/Popular music genres and are allocated for both undergraduate and postgraduate study in fields such as general music study, music education and composition study. This year, bursaries were also awarded for the study of indigenous African music at undergraduate level, whereas previously they had only been allocated for postgraduate research in this particular field.

What is also noteworthy about 2009’s bursary recipients is that the majority of South African universities with a music department are represented. Visit www.sena.org.za or e-mail sena@samro.org.za for more information