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Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 9, 2009
TACFA Announces 2009 Annual Scholarship Winners
The Tustin Area Council for Fine Arts (TACFA) has announced its Barbara Benson Memorial Scholarship winners for 2009. Each spring scholarships are awarded to graduating seniors in the Tustin area who intend to pursue a career in the Visual or Performing Arts at a college, university, or other professional training program after graduating from high school. This year TACFA has awarded four $2,000 scholarships for a total of $8,000 in scholarship awards.
The TACFA scholarship program is one of the most important ways TACFA meets its goal of supporting the Arts in the greater Tustin area. In this competition, each applicant is required to complete a written application in addition to presenting their work to a TACFA delegation composed of experts in the various fields of the Arts. This year’s jury was made up of Helen Anderson, Rita Chemers, Ruth Freiman, Ted Leib, and Bob Machado. After interviewing fifteen remarkably talented students, the judges recommended that the following students be awarded the scholarships. The scholarship winners will be honored at a May 30th reception at Soul at Home in Tustin.
 Daniel Chang, Beckman High School is an amazing visual artist in a variety of different media. He will start at UC Riverside this fall and hopes to transfer to the Rhode Island School of Design to study studio art. He has won several awards in the International Aviation Art Contest and in the annual John Wayne Airport Student Art Contest. He has served as project manager for the Art for Humanity Club, as secretary for the UNICEF Club, and as a teaching assistant at Irvine Art Academy. He participates in many community volunteer activities and is also an accomplished musician.
 James Friedman, Foothill High School, an outstanding drummer, plans on furthering his education in music writing, studio recording, and performance at Irvine Valley College this year. He twice won the Academic Award of Excellence for Outstanding Jazz Musician, drum soloist. Besides being drum major, James played in the high school’s marching, stage, and concert bands. At age 14 he was recruited to play with a professional band known for their mix of jazz, rock, Latin, and light fusion instrumental music. He has played at such venues as Disneyland, Universal Studios, and PBS.
 Allan Hon, Beckman High School, is a gifted cellist who will study cello performance at Rice University in Texas this fall. He has been either first-place winner or a semifinalist in many competitions: the L.A. Music Center Spotlight Awards 2009, the Orange Coast College Concerto Aria Competition, the South Coast Symphony Young Artists Competition 2007, the Southwestern Youth Music Festival 2006, the International Chinese Young Musician Competition 2006, and the 2008 Music Teacher Association of California VOCE State Competition. He has played with the Beckman High School Chamber Orchestra for four years and the Orange County Youth Symphony. In addition, his volunteer activities include World Vision, Kiwanis Educating Youth Club, Key Club, and the Irvine Regional Hospital Medical Center.
 Chloe Van Stralendorff, Tustin High School, is an accomplished painter, focusing on social and lifestyle issues. She will attend Fullerton College this fall to begin her studies in exhibition design with the ultimate goal of working as a museum or gallery curator. Her paintings were recently shown at Santa Ana’s GRRL Festival, celebrating International Women’s Day.
Diane Aust, president of TACFA, said, “TACFA congratulates all the winners and thanks all those who participated. We are proud to sponsor scholarships for these talented and deserving students and only wish we could reward every student who participates. The Tustin community is fortunate to have such accomplished young people in our area, and we look forward to celebrating these students’ future accomplishments.”
TACFA is a philanthropic
organization dedicated to developing and fostering the arts in the
greater Tustin area through school outreach programs, scholarships
for art education, support and showcasing of local artists, and
Broadway in the Park. For more information on TACFA, see www.tacfa.org.
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