A total of $4,000 was awarded from the Lebovitz Lively Arts Scholarship Fund this year to MHS graduates majoring in visual or performing arts. Two scholarships of $2,000 each were awarded to the following:
Shelby Barker (pictured above, left) graduated from Mattoon High School in 2014 and is attending Southern Illinois University Carbondale majoring in interior design. Kari Wattles (pictured above, right) graduated from Mattoon High School in 2013 and is attending Southern Illinois University Edwardsville majoring in dance/theater with a minor in music.
The scholarship was named in honor of Carl Lebovitz and James K. Lively, formerly of Mattoon. Lively worked as a freelance translator of many Slavic languages and was a patron of the arts during all of his adult life. He died in 1998. Lebovitz, also a language translator, was a founding member of the Mattoon Arts Council and a patron of the arts throughout his life. He participated in local theatrical productions over the years, and was the Journal Gazette/Times-Courier’s arts reviewer-at-large for 30 years. Lebovitz died in 2009. 2014 marks the forth year of the Lebovitz Lively Arts Scholarship to applicants who are graduates of Mattoon High School and who major in the visual or performing arts.
For more information on the Mattoon Arts Council, go to www.mattoonartscouncil.org.
