NSAL Florida to Launch Swillinger Musical Theater Competition
The competition will award $3,500 to the first-place winner and honors philanthropists Mark Bruce and Marilyn Lee Swillinger.
The National Society of Arts and Letters, Florida has launched the Mark Bruce & Marilyn Lee Swillinger Musical Theater Competition, a new annual opportunity for high school performers across the state of Florida to take center stage and win scholarship money to fund their education.
Open to juniors and seniors currently enrolled in high schools throughout Florida, the competition invites the state's most promising young performers to compete for a total prize purse of $7,000, with a $3,500 first prize, $2,000 second prize, and $1,500 third prize awaiting the top three finalists. The competition will be held on March 27, 2027 at Lynn University in Boca Raton.
This new competition carries the names of two of South Florida's most beloved philanthropists, Mark Bruce and Marilyn Lee Swillinger, longtime champions of the arts who chaired the NSAL Florida Red Rose Gala in 2016 and devoted their support to uplifting the region's cultural institutions. Marilyn, who passed away in 2023, spent her life turning her passion for the arts into action, from her presidency of Lynn University's Friends of the Conservatory of Music to her founding role with the Center for the Arts and Innovation. She famously said that "as a chosen child, it was my duty to give back and continually give of myself." Mark has continued that legacy in her honor, including a recent endowment of over $1 million to Lynn University for arts and education. Now, through this gift to NSAL Florida to establish an annual competition, Mark is ensuring that the art form he and Marilyn cherished together will continue championing new voices, for years to come.
Competition details and the application can be found under the competitions and scholarship section at www.nsalflorida.org, along with information about the NSAL Drama competition, and our yearly Voice, 2-D Art and Writing scholarships and competitions.
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