STONINGTON – The annual Bud Carter Memorial Music Scholarship Concert is being held Saturday June 25 at 7 p.m. at the Stonington Opera House. 2022 scholarship winners will perform, as well as those who received scholarships in 2021, plus other community members. “Please join us for this celebratory event, showcasing local musical talent,” said Jenn Adams, community and learning associate at Opera House Arts. Donations from the concert are the sole source of funding for these scholarships. Suggested donation at the door is $10. Reserve your seat at operahousearts.org. Proof of COVID vaccination is required.
Born in Deer Isle, Bud was a crooner—and a bandleader of, among other groups, the StoningTones. The Bud Carter Memorial Music Scholarship Concert is an annual event, hosted since 2002 at the Stonington Opera House. The scholarship and concert were inaugurated in 1991, in memory of this beloved local musician after his untimely early death. Since 1991 the committee has awarded over 100 scholarships, funding three to seven students each year for voice and instrument lessons, instruments and repairs, and music camps. The one requirement is that scholarship winners perform in the Bud Carter Concert in the year in which they receive the scholarship, and in the following year. Many students return in subsequent years to perform. The Bud Carter Memorial Scholarship Committee members also provide advice and oversight regarding instructors and instruments.
This celebratory event not only showcases the talent of the young winners but is also the sole source of funding for the Bud Carter Memorial Music Scholarship, which provides direct support for the music education of our young people. The scholarships help island school students pay for private lessons, music camp tuition, musical instrument purchase, repair and more. More than any other subject, the study of music has shown to improve performance in all areas of school and life.
Opera House Arts, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, was founded in 1999 to restore the 1912 Stonington Opera House, on the National Register of Historic Places, to its original role as a performance venue and a community gathering space. We offer a year-round schedule of professional theater, music, film, dance, educational programs, community events, and more. Performances take place in multiple venues, including the Stonington Opera House, the restored Burnt Cove Church Community Center, and at site-specific locations across Deer Isle and Stonington. Opera House Arts’ programs serve all of Hancock County’s winter and summer residents and visitors, with a special emphasis on the residents of Deer Isle and the Blue Hill Peninsula.
