SEIU Moe Foner Scholarship Program
SEIU is proud to offer a scholarship that continues the life 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 performing arts, and who believe that the arts are an important vehicle for promoting cultural identity and social change.
As founder of the SEIU 1199 Bread and Roses Cultural Project, Foner used his energy and imagination to tap into New York's thriving artistic community. He recruited artists such as Ossie Davis, 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.
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"Union members deserve the best... They deserve beauty and laughter and song and wisdom." |
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 passed 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 activists is held each year near Washington, D.C. It’s sponsored by the Labor Heritage Foundation.
» Eligibility Criteria:
Applicants for the Moe Foner Scholarship must be pursuing a degree or training full time in the visual or performing arts. Scholarship funding must be applied toward appropriate educational expenses at a two-year or four-year college, university, or an accredited community college, technical or trade school in an arts-related field.
» Application Process:
Download the application (pdf), or apply online. To apply online, you will need the access key for this scholarship: SEIMF. (You will be re-directed to the Scholarship Program Administrators website.)
Candidates should complete all sections of the scholarship application, and include:
1. A statement of 200 words or less describing what the labor movement has meant to you and your family.
2. 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 your education to improve the lives of working families and work for economic and social justice.
3. One of the following:
- In 500 words or less, identify a workplace issue and explain what specific ways you would use visual and performing arts skills to illustrate, dramatize, or symbolize the stories and struggles of workers dealing with this issue. You may draw from personal experience or the experience of a friend or family member. Or
- Six copies of a single original creative work showing how you would interpret the theme of working peopl and their struggles through the visual and performing arts. Attach an explanation to each copy describing your work, how you carried out the theme, and incorporated various qualities, i.e. style, color, form, image, symbol, tone, and rhythm.
- Any print sample must be 8.5 x 11.Do not send artwork on CDs or tapes.
- Performing arts tapes or CDs should be no more than 10 minutes of listening or viewing time. Musical submissions must be on tape or CD. Please do not submit musical scores.
- Each copy of the work should be on an individual tape, CD or paper. Submissions not on individual media will not be considered.
4. A high school transcript must be included with the application.
» Selection Process:
A selection committee will choose the scholarship recipient. The chief factors by which applications will be judged are originality, clarity, and commitment to social and economic justice in the workplace.
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