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Our Mission

The creation of the Wes Freed Memorial Scholarship Fund

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Our mission is to memorialize our friend Wes Freed and his contributions to art, music, and the community through the formation of a scholarship fund at VCUarts. 

To honor the memory of Wes Freed and his indelible mark on the community, his friends and family are joining together to create an enduring tribute to this visionary artist and his profound impact on the Richmond community: the Wes Freed Memorial Scholarship at VCUarts: Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts. The endowed scholarship will provide financial support to talented and deserving VCUarts students from rural Virginia, empowering them to pursue their artistic passions and to make a lasting impact in their communities, just as Wes did.​

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The Wes Freed Memorial Scholarship seeks to celebrate Wes's artistic legacy by supporting talented students from rural Virginia in achieving their artistic dreams. The scholarship will help alleviate the financial burden that comes with a higher education degree, helping students leave VCU with both a great education and less debt.

 

Establishing the Wes Freed Memorial Scholarship depends on the generosity of individuals, organizations, and in particular, those who knew and loved Wes. Named endowments last in perpetuity and are created with a minimum commitment of $50,000. By participating in this joint effort, you will sustain Wes’ legacy for generations to come while enabling the next generation of artists to contribute their unique perspectives to the creative landscape. We encourage contributions of any size, as every donation brings us closer to our goal.

 

We invite you to join us in this endeavor by donating to the Wes Freed Memorial Scholarship Fund. Together, we can nurture creativity, inspire artistic growth, and celebrate the rich memory of talented artist and friend, Wes Freed.

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Friends of Wes Freed

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Pledge your support!

We need to hit 25K in pledges before VCUarts can set up an actual fund in Wes's name. You can spread out your pledge over several years to ease the burden of a one-time payment. 

Once we hit $25,000 in pledges we will have a link to a fund through VCUarts to collect money for our endowment. 

Once we hit $50,000 our endowment is fulfilled and we can start helping students.  The more money we raise, the more help we can give. 

We did it! As of April 2024, our goal of $50,000 has been reached, and the Wes Freed Memorial Scholarship Fund will live in perpetuity! But it doesn't end here.

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Our 50K endowment will actually take 12 quarters (3 years) to mature into a scholarship, so, while this money is being held, any excess funds we raise are being put into a local account and being used to supply scholarships beginning as early as the Fall 2025 semester. 

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