Eligibility: Applicants must be low-income students planning to study music and/or arts in college. Applicants should have a B average or above and scholarship recipients may apply for renewals in successive years.
Siblings Buddy Pierce and Maggie Pierce Speight were born in Fulton, Mississippi. Their path from Fulton took them to different locations — for Buddy it was to Mississippi State University, and for Maggie it was Nashville to start a job as bookkeeper for the Nashville Gas Company. Buddy traveled the world working for oil companies, and in his spare time he visited music halls, museums and art exhibits. Maggie attributes her love for the arts as being born at a 1946 performance of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra. With the establishment of this Fund, their hope is to help those with a love for the arts educate themselves and continue to make the world a more artistic place.