Long Island Arts Alliance Applications are Now Open

Long Island Arts Alliance (LIAA) is looking for applications from Nassau and Suffolks most promising student scholar artists.

By Melissa Wickes February 17, 2021

Long Island Arts Alliance (LIAA) is now accepting applications for 2021-2022 scholar artists. Every year, in partnership with Newsday, the Scholar-Artist program identifies twenty incoming high school seniors from Nassau and Suffolk counties as LI's most promising student-artists. The deadline for nominations is June 1.

Awards are given in theater (and theater tech), music (and composition), dance, visual arts, and media arts. Students can be nominated by their district's arts administrator and each district can nominate one student per arts discipline. In order to qualify, students must:

Be nominated by their high school and the application must be submitted through a district administrator
Be graduating seniors from the class of 2022
Represent the highest level of artistic excellence
Demonstrate superior academic achievement with an un-weighted grade point average of 90 or above (transcript must include all four quarters of ninth and tenth grades and the first half of eleventh grade)
Submit an essay and a portfolio of their work/performance

The arts educator must mail a thumb drive with the application materials as well as a video of performance or portfolio of work to:

Dr. John J. Gallagher, director of Music & Fine Arts
Longwood School District
30 Swezey Lane,
Middle Island, NY 11953

The application must be postmarked no later than June 1.

“In a year where normalcy has gone out the window, it was important to LIAA, Newsday, and our Scholar-Artist Committee that we continue the legacy of recognizing and honoring Long Island’s incredible young artists” says Lauren Wagner, director of the Long Island Arts Alliance. “Not only is this program a celebration of the student’s accomplishments, but it also recognizes the support and dedication of their arts educators and their school districts. Right now, art, art-making, expression, and creativity are more important than ever, and if we can do something to highlight the importance of arts education in our schools, then we are going to do it.”

For more information about the application requirements, visit the LIAA website. You can view the profiles of former LIAA winners here.