The Music Center Spotlight Scholarship Program
Offered by The Music Center
About this scholarship
The Music Center’s Spotlight is a free performing-arts competition, scholarship, and artistic-development program for Southern California high school students. It distributes more than $100,000 in cash awards annually across acting, ballet, dance, classical voice, non-classical voice, classical instrumental, and contemporary instrumental categories. Recent award levels include $100 merit awards, $500 semifinalist awards, $1,000 honorable mentions, and $5,000 for each of 14 grand-prize finalists. Applicants must attend a public, private, online, or home school and have a home base in Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, Santa Barbara, Kern, San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino, or Imperial County. Students must still be enrolled in high school on December 31, 2026 and cannot be full-time college students. Previous grand-prize finalists are ineligible, but other previous participants and awardees may return. The direct Acceptd application requires registration, an online form, and a category-compliant audition video recorded between November 2025 and October 2026; applicants under 18 also need parent or guardian consent. Acting and non-classical voice each close at 300 applications, potentially before the general October 12 deadline. Grand-prize finalists must attend required rehearsals and the May 22, 2027 finale to receive the award.
Eligibility
- Attend a public, private, online, or home high school with a home base in one of the nine eligible Southern California counties
- Remain enrolled in high school through December 31, 2026 and not be a full-time college student
- Apply in acting, ballet, dance, classical voice, non-classical voice, classical instrumental, or contemporary instrumental
- Not be a previous Spotlight grand-prize finalist
- Upload an audition video recorded between November 2025 and October 2026 that follows the selected category rules
- If under 18, obtain parent or guardian consent
- If chosen as a grand-prize finalist, attend all required May 21–22, 2027 rehearsals and performances
- Submit by October 12, 2026, or earlier if a capped category fills