WINSTON-SALEM – University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) Chancellor John Mauceri today announced the largest one-time private gift in the school’s history: a $6 million grant from The William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust, to endow the annual William R. Kenan, Jr. Excellence Awards program.

“Today is a significant milestone in the history of our school,” said Chancellor Mauceri. “The extraordinary generosity of The William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust will allow us to attract the very best student artists from across the country and around the world.

“This gift will have a transformative impact on UNCSA,” Chancellor Mauceri continued. “This is enormously gratifying for me as well as our entire team at UNCSA.”

UNCSA Board of Trustees Chairman Charles C. Lucas III echoed those sentiments: “The Kenan Trust has been a loyal partner throughout the history of the School of the Arts, and we are honored that they have chosen to increase their gift during this critical time.”

First presented in 2006-07, the William R. Kenan, Jr. Excellence Awards pay for tuition, fees, room and board for four years of undergraduate study. The awards are provided by a 2005 grant of $1 million from The William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust, a 2009 grant of $225,000 from The William R. Kenan, Jr. Fund for the Arts, and a 2010 grant of $250,000 from The William R. Kenan, Jr. Fund for the Arts.

UNCSA makes five awards per year; 25 students have been Kenan Excellence Scholars over the past five years. The awards are made to students judged to have the best potential as artist-scholars regardless of the arts program in which they enroll or their state of residence. 

“The Kenan Excellence Awards are among our proudest creations,” said Dr. Richard M. Krasno, executive director of The William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust and president of The William R. Kenan, Jr. Fund for the Arts. “The Trust established this scholarship program, and the Fund provided additional support, to demonstrate our confidence in the exceptional educational experience the University of North Carolina School of the Arts provides to talented student-artists from around the world. Today, we are upping the ante. We are confident in the leadership of Chancellor Mauceri and his team and embrace his vision for creating an institution of the first rank.”

“Now is the time to invest in this national treasure that is UNCSA,” Dr. Krasno concluded.

Since John Mauceri became chancellor of UNCSA in 2006, the school has added nearly $14 million to its endowment, including five new $1 million endowed professorships.

 The William R. Kenan Jr. Charitable Trust was created in 1965 from the estate of William Rand Kenan, Jr.  Since 1966 when it began making grants, the Trust has awarded 930 grants valuing more than $432 million through the careful stewardship of generations of trustees dedicated to fulfilling Mr. Kenan’s philanthropic mission.

The University of North Carolina School of the Arts is the first state-supported, residential school of its kind in the nation. Established as the North Carolina School of the Arts by the N.C. General Assembly in 1963, UNCSA opened in Winston-Salem (“The City of Arts and Innovation”) in 1965 and became part of the University of North Carolina system in 1972. More than 1,100 students from high school through graduate school train for careers in the arts in five professional schools: Dance, Design and Production (including a Visual Arts Program), Drama, Filmmaking, and Music. UNCSA is the state’s only public arts conservatory, dedicated entirely to the professional training of talented students in the performing, visual and moving image arts. UNCSA is located at 1533 S. Main St., Winston-Salem. For more information, visit www.uncsa.edu.

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