Three talented young Bermudians, all of whom are pursuing university degrees in dance or music, have had their financial burdens eased thanks to the Ross (Blackie) Talbot Foundation, which has just awarded them major educational scholarships worth$40,000 in total for the year 2006/2007.

The recipients are Tyler Barker, Nikia Kara Manders and Roy Richardson.

Mr. Barker, whose scholarship is worth $15,000, is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at the University of Florida?s New World School of the Arts in Miami. With just six years of training behind him, already he has become one of Bermuda?s most promising and talented dancers.

Upon completion of his BFA degree, Mr. Barker?s aims to join a professional dance company. If unsuccessful in the long term, he plans to pursue a Master?s degree in dance and dance education. His long-term goal is to return to Bermuda to teach dance and inspire our youth to emulate his dedication and success.

?We believe that Tyler has the potential to develop his dance techniques and stage performance skills which will position him to perform on an international level in a career in dance,? Foundation trustee Mr. Clement E.F. Talbot, JP, said.

Mr. Barker said he was ?completely surprised and ecstatic? to receive the scholarship for a second year, and for a larger amount.

?Without it I would not have been able to complete the year. It is (an act of) complete generosity and a show of faith in boosting my confidence to a level where I now have to prove that I was worthy of it. I feel I have to give back ten-fold.?

Miss Manders, who already holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in dance (cum laude) from the State University of New York at Buffalo, has been accepted by the Steinhardt School of Education in New York state, and her $15,000 scholarship will help her to pursue a Master?s degree in dance education, New York State certification as a dance teacher, and a certificate in arts management.

Miss Manders has danced with and choreographed for a number of organisations both here and abroad; taught at the In Motion School of Dance, and worked in the Caribbean Cruise Lines? cabaret programme.

Her goal is to establish herself as a full time professional dancer before eventually returning to Bermuda as a teacher and choreographer. Her ambition is to assist and promote the development of the performing arts in Bermuda through education.

Mr. Richardson?s $10,000 scholarship will help him to complete his Bachelor of Arts degree in music theatre at Acadia University. Now in his fourth and final year of studies at the Canadian university, he expects to graduate next summer.

He first became interested in the performing arts at age four when he began taking tap dance lessons.

A few years later he was cast in Bermuda Musical & Dramatic Society productions, but it wasn?t until he had an opportunity to attend a children?s theatre camp in Missoula, Montana at age 16 that he realised where his future lay.

?They had some workshops in Bermuda and I was one of a few chosen to audition for the Missoula theatre camp. That?s when I knew I wanted to study musical theatre,? he says. ?I didn?t know how I was going to make money, but I knew this was what I wanted.?

Later, Mr. Richardson spent two years in Ecuador: one as a Rotary Exchange student, and the second at university studying theatre and Spanish. Today, he is continuing his studies at Acadia University.

?Acadia was the only university in Canada offering a musical theatre degree, so that is how I ended up there,? he says. ?The degree is in the school of music as opposed to a theatre degree.?

Degree requirements include studying piano and singing in the university choir. He enjoys dancing and plays the clarinet.

A member of both the Club Hispa?o Acadia (Spanish Club), which promotes learning and teaching of the Spanish language, and the Acadia Dance Collective, which is the largest club on the university campus with over 200 members, Mr. Richardson is also accomplished salsa dancer who conducts teaching classes once a week.

His main extra-curricular activity for the past two years has been fronting his own five-piece band, ?Los Mafiosos?, which enjoys regular gigs in and around Acadia.

News of his Talbot Foundation scholarship was both a wonderful surprise and ?a great help?.

?It is wonderful that these people really understand and want to help culture and the arts in Bermuda because these are, for me personally, one of the things that will bring the community together. That is what makes culture, and we have to have local artists to create that culture. At the moment we are lacking.?

Speaking on behalf of his fellow trustees, Mr. Talbot said that the Ross (Blackie) Talbot Foundation was ?very proud to support the continued education and training of these very talented students of the performing arts. We are confident that they will both develop to their fullest potential in their chosen fields and continue to be examples of success within their peer groups.?

Established in 1999, The Ross (Blackie) Talbot Foundation aims to increase public awareness of the value of musical education to Bermuda?s youth.

The Foundation also provides financial support to Bermuda?s talented youth in their development within the performing arts. To date more than $125,000 has been given for scholarships and support for performing arts.