SARASOTA – The Exchange on Orange Ave has gifted art students and local art organizations grants for the past 51 years.
A tradition started when the store first opened. 20 college students received scholarships.
Baliey Jordan a student at Notre Dame College studying to be an architect couldn’t be more thankful for the help in continuing her studies. “There’s a whole lot of students so any opportunity you can to be one of the students who get a scholarship like this is a really great opportunity,” she said.
“And the Sarasota area is really great for architecture, there’s a lot of architectural history from around this area. So it’s a really great area to live and see all that happens,” said Jordan.
CEO of The Exchange Karen Cobelend says she continues the tradition to keep the arts alive in Sarasota. “I believe that the arts are critical, they differentiate us from every other beach community and they unite us as a community,” said Cobelend. “Tonight is all about community, we would never be here without them.”
A total of a quarter of a $1 million in scholarships and grants were awarded Thursday evening. Applications for 2020 scholarships will start to be accepted starting this November with the deadline being in January.
