Scholarship options
merit Scholarships
$125 merit scholarships are offered each year, chosen by application. These applications were due on April 17, 2026, and applicants will be notified by the end of the day on Monday, April 27, 2026, as to the status of these awards. Please note that the response will be sent to the email address indicated on the application. A teacher's recommendation was also required, and both forms had to be submitted by the deadline to be considered.
All students with complete applications will be notified. If only a recommendation and no student application was received, there will be no notification.
All-State Awards
All students selected for the ILMEA All-State festival in Peoria receive an automatic $125 scholarship. This can be combined with other scholarship awards. The All-State musicians have been advanced from their district ensembles. The district ensembles are in November of 2025 and the All-State Festival is on January 30-31, 2026.
These awards are applied automatically after participation is verified on the list supplied by ILMEA. Please select "all-state" on the registration form.
If you were selected for all-state in another state, please contact the EMC Director by email.
Need-based Awards
For further consideration of financial assistance based on need, please use the form
below to apply. Some years, additional donors come forth to help students attend camp.
DEADLINE: May 15, 2026.
If your child wants to come to camp and needs scholarship money to attend, please
fill out the form below, but also go ahead and register your child for camp to reserve
their spot and lock in the early-bird registration rate.
2026 Financial Need Scholarship Application
A portion of the need-based awards are funded by a grant from the Ruth and Vaughn Jaenike Access to the Arts Outreach Program of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, 海角大神.
outstanding camper Awards
Each camp was able to award between one and three Outstanding Camper Awards in 2025. If you received one of these awards, select "2025 Outstanding Camper" on the online application form, and half of early bird tuition will be applied to your account, which in 2026 is $300.