Applications Close Soon for Jamie Hawkins-Gaar Memorial Scholarship at Dad's Garage

Applications close this month for a Dad's Garage scholarship program to honor the life and legacy of Jamie Hawkins-Gaar. This is the third cycle of this scholarship, after taking a pause in 2020 due to the pandemic. Applications will be accepted through April 16. Dad's Garage will announce the winning group in mid-May and the team will begin performance coaching in August 2021, to run through July 2022.

Jamie died from an undiagnosed heart condition on February 4, 2017. He was 32 years old. A good friend of the Dad's Garage family, Jamie was a vivacious creative professional-a screenwriter and director who developed and directed a considerable library of online sketches that garnered hundreds of thousands of views.

Improv comedy was very much central to Jamie's creative passions, and Dad's Garage is proud to collaborate with his wife Katie Hawkins-Gaar to create a new scholarship program that continues Jamie's legacy of continually creating awesome work.

The Jamie Hawkins-Gaar Memorial Scholarship is open to improv teams based in Atlanta. Improv teams are groups of like-minded individuals who perform short- or long-form improv geared towards a specific concept or interest. The scholarship will provide one team with twice-monthly coaching sessions from Dad's Garage, for a full year, for free.

There is no limit on how many people can be on a team; however, the roster must remain consistent throughout the coaching process. We are especially interested in teams that represent the diversity of race, class, gender, sexuality, etc. reflective of the larger Atlanta community.

Through this scholarship program, we hope to foster new and diverse creative voices in Atlanta-something Jamie would have been very excited to see. This is the third year this scholarship has been offered. The first winners were "Other Side of the Wall," a bilingual Spanish-English improv troupe. The second year's winners were "Red Pill Players," a group of Black improvisers who cover issues related to social justice in their performance.

You can apply to the program here, and if you'd like to donate to this fund in honor of Jamie's legacy, please do so here.

Important Dates:

April 16-- Applications Due
Mid May -- Announcements Made
Late Summer 2021 -- Scholarship Starts

Important Links:

You can apply to the program here,

To donate to this fund in honor of Jamie's legacy, please do so here.

About Jamie Hawkins-Gaar:

Atlanta held a special place in Jamie's heart. He grew up in Loganville, Georgia; attended college at Georgia State University, where he met his wife and many lifelong friends; co-founded Atlanta-based Bland Hack Pictures and collaborated with Twinhead Theatre; and attended countless shows at Dad's Garage. He completed all four levels of improv classes at Dad's and directed their award-winning short film "Movers." Jamie credited improv with helping him become a better performer, writer, and collaborator. He enjoyed mentoring and was passionate about cultivating more diversity and supporting minority-based groups within the improv community. Jamie died at 32 years old while running a half marathon on February 4, 2017. At the time of his death, Jamie lived in St. Petersburg, Florida, where he was a barista at Craft Kafe, member of The Third Thought improv troupe, and volunteer with Big Brothers, Big Sisters.

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