Friends of the Arts (FOA) is a community-based organization partnering with Illinois State University Foundation and the Wonsook Kim College of Fine Arts. FOA is governed by a volunteer board composed of community members who share an appreciation for the arts and education.
In addition to support for the activities, programs, and operations of the organization, the Friends of the Arts Fund provides direct support to ISU fine arts students awarded through academic scholarships and project grants.
The Friends of the Arts Scholarship supports a two-year scholarship for students selected as a FOA Scholar.
In academic year 2019-2020, FOA provided more than $44,000 to fine arts students, including $9,000 in project grants and $35,000 in scholarships. Read more about the FOA grants and scholarship program and the impact of gifts made to FOA at: FineArts.IllinoisState.edu/FOA.
Your support of Friends of the Arts may inspire a young artist like one of these three recent FOA grant recipients:
- Emily Minton asked for a grant to support her solo exhibition. Her show included works on paper and canvas, soft sculpture and glass. She used humor in her exhibition to create conversation about contemporary information systems and ways they’re altering ideas of intimacy and relationships.
- Gen Games, a seven-student cross-university collaboration group of video game designers and developers, wanted to kick-start the new game development and design programs at ISU. They requested funding for subscription game development software licenses to develop an original game.
- The group exhibition Out of Ink incorporated digital subject matter and traditional print media formats. The body of work was a collaboration between two class sections of the 2019 senior level graphic design major. The FOA grant helped the group exhibit professional client work and personal work inspired by the designer’s passions for design.
