Apply for an IBMA Foundation College Scholarship

Apply for an IBMA Foundation College Scholarship

Application deadline for all four scholarships: June 1.
Scholarship will be awarded for the fall 2026 semester.

"*" indicates required fields

I wish to apply for the following scholarships: (Check all applicable.)*

Mike Auldridge Memorial Scholarship

Gloria Belle Memorial Scholarship

IBMA Bluegrass College Scholarship

J. D. Crowe Banjo Scholarship

Katy Daley Broadcast Media/ Sound Engineering Scholarship

Sally Ann Forrester Scholarship (females)

The Planning Stages Scholarship for Live Music Production

Note: You may apply for more than one scholarship on this application form. Criteria for each of the scholarships may be found at the end of this document. Applicants must either be citizens of the United States or international students planning to go to college in the United States. Applicants for the Katy Daley Broadcast Media/ Sound Engineer Scholarships must be current members of IBMA (info: ibma.org). You may apply for and/or receive scholarship support for more than one year, but you must reapply each year by June 1 for the following fall semester.

Please complete the following information:

Name*

Address*

Street Address City State / Province / Region ZIP / Postal Code Country

Phone*

Email*

I hereby state that all information submitted in this application is accurate and truthful, that I am currently in good academic standing (as defined by my educational institution), and that I will remain in good academic standing during the period of any scholarship grant I may receive.

Signature*

Date*

1. Age*

Are you currently enrolled?*

Yes

Please provide the name and address of the college you plan to attend:*

2. Are you currently in good academic standing, as defined by the educational institution you attend?*

Yes

3. In the upcoming fall semester I will be a (select one):*

Freshman

Sophomore

Junior

Senior

4. What is your major (or planned major)? If your major is not bluegrass music, please explain how your college studies relate to bluegrass.*

5. Should you be awarded a scholarship, how do you plan to use it?*

College tuition

Instructional materials/supplies

Room/board

Other

If "Other" please list.*

6. How much does it cost, before financial aid and scholarships, to attend one semester at the college or university you plan to attend?*

7. Have you applied for other scholarships?*

Yes

8. Have you received other scholarships? If so, please list from whom and in what amount.*

9. In 200-400 words, outline your academic goals. How will your educational plans lead to your chosen career? How did you choose this career, and who or what influenced your decision?*

10. If you are applying for the IBMA Bluegrass College Scholarship, please elaborate on the professional area of the bluegrass music industry in which you are interested in working. If you are applying for the Katy Daley Broadcast Media/ Sound Engineering Scholarship, please tell us how your studies at a college or some other educational institution will increase your skills as a broadcaster or sound engineer.

11. If you are an instrumentalist or a vocalist, share a link to a video of you performing (YouTube, Vimeo, etc.) a bluegrass-related song. You may submit a video of yourself in a band setting as long as you are featured as a singer or instrumentalist. Audio or video recordings are fine.*

Submit a link

Upload an mp3

Submit a Video Link.*

Upload an mp3 file.*

Max. file size: 32 MB.

My primary instrument is

My primary instrument skill level is

beginner

intermediate

advanced

My secondary instrument is

My secondary instrument skill level is

beginner

intermediate

advanced

12. Attach one letter of recommendation from an adult of your choice (not related to you). This should be a one-page letter from a person who knows you well enough to evaluate your level of musicianship or other relevant skills, your personal responsibility and your likely financial need. Be sure to have the person writing your recommendation letter mention that you are applying for the IBMA Bluegrass College Scholarship, the Sally Ann Forrester Scholarship, the J. D. Crowe Banjo Scholarship, or the Katy Daley Broadcast Media/ Sound Engineering Scholarship. Remember - you may apply for more than one scholarship. Just check the applicable boxes at the top of this application form.*

Max. file size: 32 MB.

Additional info:

All ages are eligible for IBMA Foundation scholarships. All six scholarships on this application form for the 2025-26 school year will be in the amount of $2,000. All scholarship checks will be written to the college or training institution.

Each recipient will be required to submit a brief written report of his or her 2025-26 school year and evidence of completion in good standing, within 30 days after the end of the semester in which the scholarship is used. The report may be shared in a press release, on the IBMA Foundation website, and/or in the monthly e-newsletter, The Cornerstone. The scholarship recipient will be asked to submit a photograph for use by the IBMA Foundation for articles and the press release. Thank you for applying. We wish you best of luck with your studies. If you have questions, contact Nancy Cardwell at 615.260.4807 or info@bluegrassfoundation.org.

CRITERIA & INFO ABOUT IBMA FOUNDATION COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIPS:

The Mike Auldridge Memorial Scholarship is awarded annually to a person studying the resophinc guitar, steel guitar, or acoustic guitar on the college level, with a bluegrass or roots music focus. The scholarship was created and endowed by Dobro/steel player, Howard Parker. Mike Auldridge (1938-2012) was a legendary Dobro stylist whose music continues to influence the generations of guitarists who have followed him. A graphic design artist for a commercial art firm in Bethesda, Maryland, and then for the Washington Star-News, Mike was a founding member of the award-winning Seldom Scene. He designed several of the band’s early album covers, as well as the logo for Bluegrass Unlimited magazine. Mike is one of the few artists to have been inducted into the Bluegrass Hall of Fame twice—in 2014 as a member of the Scene, and again in 2019 as a solo artist. Auldridge also performed with Emerson and Waldron, Cliff Waldron and the New Shades of Grass, The Country Gentlemen, Chesapeake, The Good Deale Bluegrass Band, John Starling and Carolina Star, and Darren Beachley and the Legends of the Potomac. He also toured with Emmylou Harris and the Lyle Lovett Band. Auldridge received the IBMA Distinguished Achievement Award for lifetime contributions to bluegrass music in 2007 and the 2012 National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.

The Gloria Belle Memorial Scholarship offers college or technical training assistance for bluegrass musicians and singers, or for individuals studying behind the scenes subjects like sound engineering, broadcasting, instrument building, event production, photography, videography, publicity, marketing, graphic design, or marketing. Gloria Belle Flickinger is most widely known for her tenure with Jimmy Martin and the Sunny Mountain Boys from 1968-75 but her first public performance was at age three on a church radio program in Frederick, Maryland. By her early teens, she played guitar, piano, drums, mandolin, and banjo. At 21 she was invited to join the cast of Cas Walker’s Farm And Home radio show in Knoxville, Tennessee. Cas dubbed her “Gloria Belle” because he couldn’t pronounce “Flickinger.” She also performed with Betty Amos and her All-Girl Band, led the group Gloria Belle and the Green Mountain Travelers, The Bluegrass Kit Kats, recorded her first solo album in 1967 (the first to feature a woman playing a lead instrument), and finally formed her own band, Gloria Belle and Tennessee Sunshine, in 1990. Bluegrass historian Fred Bartenstein said Gloria Belle was “single-mindedly focused on a performing career in bluegrass, despite many roadblocks and little financial remuneration. It is most appropriate that we honor her with an endowed scholarship fund, preserving her name and legacy forever.” In 1999 Gloria Belle was honored with the IBMA’s Distinguished Achievement Award, along with two Recorded Event of the Year awards for her participation in Follow Me Back to the Fold: A Tribute to Women in Bluegrass (2001) and Proud to be a Daughter of Bluegrass (2009), on Rebel and Blue Circle Records.

The J. D. Crowe Banjo Scholarship is awarded to an individual planning to study the banjo at the college level or play the banjo in a college-level bluegrass ensemble. Applicants must already demonstrate a high level of performance skills on the five-string banjo and plan to become involved in the bluegrass music industry on a professional level. Bluegrass Hall of Fame member J. D. Crowe, originally from Lexington, Kentucky, is one of the most influential and popular banjo players in the history of bluegrass music. Longtime friend and fellow Kentucky bluegrass musician Arthur Hancock III made the initial $20,000 donation to create the fund and endow the scholarship for the benefit of banjo players for generations to come. Hancock’s son, Arthur Hancock IV, a member of the IBMA Foundation board of directors and guitarist/vocalist with Wolfpen Branch, was instrumental in creating the scholarship in Crowe’s memory. Born into one of the most respected families in horse racing, Arthur Hancock III is the grandson of the founder of Claiborne Farm. His father, Arthur B. "Bull" Hancock Jr., grew the farm to international status. Arthur honed his skills on the family farm and, after graduating from Vanderbilt University, worked for Hall of Fame trainer Eddie Neloy before taking ownership of Stone Farm. There he has been involved in breeding, raising, and racing a number of Champions and Classic winners. An accomplished musician, Arthur is a devotee of bluegrass music and has written songs which have been recorded by Willie Nelson, Ray Price and other artists. He and his wife Staci have six children and three grandchildren. Hancock and Crowe were friends for more than 50 years, until the latter’s passing in 2021.

The Katy Daley Broadcast Media/ Sound Engineering Scholarship is awarded annually to an individual planning to study broadcasting or sound engineering at college or in a continuing education program, with a bluegrass music focus. Eligible areas of study include radio, television, digital media, recorded sound engineering and mastering, live sound engineering, and related disciplines. Applicants must plan to become involved in the bluegrass music industry on a professional level and be current IBMA members. (See ibma.org to join IBMA.) Initial funds for the endowed scholarship were donated by Daley and her husband, Bill Brown, to the IBMA Foundation to endow the scholarship at the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee in Nashville. Katy Daley, co-host of the Bluegrass Stories podcast series along with Howard Parker, has had a 30+ year career in bluegrass (WAMU-FM and Bluegrass Country) and country (WMZQ) radio in the Washington, DC area. Katy was named IBMA Bluegrass Broadcaster of the year in 2009 and 2011. She was honored with the 2017 DC Bluegrass Union Washington Monument Award. You can read her Q&A articles in Bluegrass Today. Katy was honored with the IBMA's Distinguished Achievement Award in September 2019.

The IBMA Bluegrass College Scholarship:
The IBMA Foundation grants a scholarship each year to a student majoring in bluegrass or a bluegrass-related field of study at the undergraduate college level. Eligible beneficiaries are enrolled undergraduate college students who are: 1) majoring or planning to major in bluegrass-music-related fields of study or 2) minoring or planning to minor in bluegrass-music-related fields of study who have also been invited to perform in a college-level bluegrass ensemble. Bluegrass music–related studies include but are not limited to bluegrass performance, music education, folklore, sound engineering and recording, lutherie (building and repairing instruments), business, marketing, public relations, songwriting/publishing, or other academic study of bluegrass and related roots musics. The successful candidate for this scholarship should aspire to be involved in the bluegrass music industry on a professional level in the future and should show evidence of talent in a bluegrass-related field.

The Sally Ann Forrester Scholarship will be awarded to a female bluegrass musician for upcoming fall studies at the college of her choice, in the amount of $1,000. Applicants are not required to have a declared major in bluegrass music, although women enrolled in a bluegrass university degree program are welcome to apply. Initial funds for this scholarship were donated by Murphy Hicks Henry, co-founder with her husband Red Henry of the Murphy Method instructional media company and author of Pretty Good for a Girl: Women in Bluegrass (University of Illinois Press). Sally Ann Forrester was born Wilene Russell and known to her family as “Billie.” Sometimes called the first woman in bluegrass, she played with Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys from 1943 until 1946. Her accordion playing can be heard prominently on several of Monroe’s 1945 Columbia recordings, including “Kentucky Waltz,” “Rocky Road Blues,” and “Blue Grass Special.” She sang tenor to Monroe on the trio cuts “Come Back to Me in My Dreams” and “Nobody Loves Me.” Forrester was also in the first-ever configuration of the Blue Grass Boys to include Earl Scruggs and Lester Flatt, along with her husband Howdy on fiddle and his brother Joe on bass in December 1945.

The Planning Stages Scholarship for Live Music Production, established by Claire Armbruster and Jeff Koontz, co-owners of Planning Stages, Inc. in Brevard, NC, will recognize creative professionals whose dedication and expertise make live performances possible. It supports students pursuing college, community college, or vocational training in live music event production, talent buying, and related fields. The goal of the Planning Stages scholarship is to empower the next generation of professionals who make bluegrass music shine from behind the curtain. Scholarships may be applied toward tuition, internships, and educational expenses. For the purposes of this scholarship, “live music production” encompasses the planning, booking, technical, and creative work that supports live music performances across all types of venues. Students focused on sound engineering will be encouraged to apply for the Katy Daley Broadcast Media & Sound Engineering Scholarship or the Gloria Belle Memorial Scholarship.