The Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation announced Tuesday (Jan. 18) that Sofia Carson will finance the next four-year Prodigy Scholarship, which holds a maximum value of $200,000. It will fully fund a student’s bachelor’s degree in music at Berklee School of Music starting in the fall 2022.
“It is such a privilege to witness the life-changing mission of this foundation through the power of music and education. To have the Sofia Carson Scholarship and to partner with my LGCF family on this is one of the greatest honors of my life,” Carson, a global ambassador for the foundation since 2019, tells Billboard. “To be able to use my voice and my platform in this way is the most important thing I can do. I couldn’t be more grateful to be part of this.”
In addition to the Sofia Carson Scholarship, there will be 43 other scholarships: three Gifted Tuition scholarships and and 40 Tuition Assistance scholarships for music students admitted to universities of their choice.
“As we enter our seventh year of providing scholarships and transformational experiential programming, we know that access — and educational equity — is pivotal in supporting future Latin music creators and preserving our cultural heritage for generations to come,” said Tanya Ramos-Puig, president, Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation. “It is truly a humbling reality made possible, year after year, thanks to the gracious support of our partners.”
The scholarship is awarded to an outstanding music student between the ages of 17-25 who demonstrates a passion for Latin music, but faces severe financial hardships.
The Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation says it “remains committed to help support closing the gender gap in the music industry.” In the 2020-21 season, the four most valuable scholarships were awarded to women, which represents 64% ($531,000) of the total scholarship amount awarded.
“That’s also the hope we have with this scholarship — that it will inspire young women around the world who have dreams of pursuing a career in music to actually fearlessly pursue to those dreams,” adds Carson.
In previous years, the Prodigy Scholarship has been co-sponsored by Latin stars including Enrique Iglesias (2015), Juan Luis Guerra (2016), Miguel Bosé (2017), Carlos Vives (2018), Emilio and Gloria Estefan (2019), Julio Iglesias (2020) and Juanes (2021).
The scholarship application is now live here. The deadline to apply is April 10 at 11:59 p.m. ET.
