Burt Harris Memorial Scholarship
- About the Scholarship
With initial funding through The Beat 94.5 FM this scholarship will was built to award music education scholarships to needy students for private and institutional music programs. The scholarship was named after Burt Harris who recently passed away after a battle with cancer. Burt was a music lawyer and fierce advocate for music and musicians. Burt’s passion for all things music will be carried on through this scholarship program.
With the generous donations from the public, we will be able to help many of these students and individuals not only to gain one on one musical instruction from a professional instructor, but to work toward a brighter future with confidence and passion, be it a profession in music or otherwise. We believe that the gift of music for these students will benefit the community beyond the music sector, as they take their dedication for playing music, and apply that same dedication and passion to the rest of their lives.
The Music BC Charitable Foundation was very pleased to announce in June, an amazing donation of $15,000 made to the Burt Harris Memorial Scholarship Fund by BC artists, Tegan & Sara. On their recent tour, they assembled a limited edition CD of their initial demo versions of their latest album The Con, and sold them while on their tour, donating the proceeds to the Music BC Charitable Foundation’s scholarship program.
When asked why they chose this charity, Tegan shared the following: “Sara and I were 18 when we had our first meeting with Burt Harris. We were on the verge of signing our first record deal and needed counsel badly. Thankfully Burt was able to negotiate and most importantly protect Sara and I when we were most vulnerable. Burt was the kind of lawyer more interested in protecting his artists than making money or becoming famous for his client list. He insisted that Sara and I understand every word of every agreement he ever drew up or negotiated on our behalf. I really admired Burt and appreciated his priorities. When we finished the Con and began work on the artwork we decided to dedicate the record to the two biggest losses we had ever faced: Burt Harris and our Grandmother Rita. They were both unprecedented forces in our lives and our eventual success as artists and as people. A dedication so small in comparison to the contribution they both made in our lives. It brings us great happiness to be able to raise money for this cause.”
- $500 scholarship awards will be given to individuals age 25 and under who can show a financial need, to help pay for private instruction in Canada for a musical instrument.
- $1000 scholarship awards will be given to individuals age 25 and under who can show a financial need, to help pay for tuition for a music program at a post secondary institution in Canada
- This program is not for career training for positions in the music industry, so no applications for funding for an entertainment business management program, etc will be eligible.
- This program will be based on passion and a willingness to learn, over any music experience. This is open to experienced musicians to individuals who have never had the opportunity to learn how to play an instrument.
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