Funds are raised by way of particular person donations and varied occasions and initiatives held all year long, together with Giving Tuesday, a world motion that encourages individuals to present again in any method they’ll.
This 12 months, the WJA Basis has awarded $57,500 in scholarship funds.
Winners obtained awards in six totally different classes.
The Cindy Edelstein Scholarship was created to honor the late longtime WJA board member Cindy Edelstein and awards a $5,000 scholarship to rising high-quality jewellery designers or artisans.
The recipient can pursue jewellery design, metalsmithing, or enterprise programs, so long as they’re centered on enhancing their artistry and/or their designer jewellery enterprise.
This 12 months’s scholarship has been awarded to Gabrielle Saunders, a scholar on the Gemological Institute of America.
The Gabriel Love Basis Scholarship was established and funded by the Gabriel Love Basis of New York-based high-quality jewellery model Gabriel & Co.
The scholarship supplies funding for college students who wish to obtain skilled development inside the jewellery trade and who plan to make use of their careers to enhance communities and take part in charitable efforts.
This 12 months’s $5,000 scholarship has been awarded to GIA scholar Oksana Membreno.
This 12 months’s Designer Class winner is Emma McSallis (Maine School of Artwork and Design), and the Designer/Creator Class winner is Kindred Lubeck (GIA).
The muse additionally launched two new awards this 12 months—the Radiant Minds Expertise Scholarship and WJA Variety Scholarships for GIA Training.
The Radiant Minds Expertise Scholarship was created by WJA Basis, Jewelers Mutual Group, and Black in Jewellery Coalition with the aim of offering ladies of colour the training they have to be profitable in tech-related jobs inside the jewellery and watch trade.
The recipient receives funding for a coaching or certification program centered on software program engineering, together with user-experience design, knowledge analytics, and entrance and back-end design and net improvement, at a college of their selection, authorized by the scholarship committee.
The inaugural scholarship has been awarded to Brittany Ylanlan, a scholar learning laptop programming and cellular functions improvement at Tidewater Group School.
The Gemological Institute of America additionally made a pledge to fund new scholarships for college students from underrepresented communities, together with BIPOC and LGBTQIA+, who wish to take on-campus or on-line programs by way of GIA Training.
Recipients can choose from varied choices, together with GIA’s on-line Utilized Jewellery Skilled diploma program, the Diamond Necessities or Diamonds and Diamond Grading programs, or its on-campus Graduate Coloured Stones diploma program and Jewellery Design certificates course.
This 12 months, these scholarships have been awarded to Cloyette Harris, Koolebogile Veronicah Mosweu, Grace Omwanza, Christina Soto, Ashley Tien, and Rebecca Wagner.
The WJA Basis additionally supplies varied scholarships to college students enrolled in jewellery or metalsmithing applications at accredited faculties, universities, or coaching colleges between Aug. 1, 2022, and July 31, 2023.
Donations to the WJA Basis will be made on-line.
