Vic Wood Scholarship
The VWA is delighted to host the annual Vic Wood Scholarship. The award is in honour of Vic Wood, a founding member and inaugural president of the VWA.
Vic Wood was renowned locally, nationally and internationally as an innovator in the field of woodturning. He was highly sought after as a demonstrator of his craft. Vic encouraged and fostered future innovators in the field, mentoring their work, recommending them as demonstrators, and promoting them in articles he wrote for the UK magazine Woodturning. Many of the people he featured in these articles would go on to become internationally recognised turners.
Vic’s connection with the Victorian Woodworkers Association (VWA) goes back to its inception when he and several other like-minded people saw a need for a place where creative woodworkers could meet and share knowledge and skills. This resulted in the formation of the VWA in 1979 with Vic as the inaugural President.
Over the years Vic moved from formal to private education and demonstrating. After a career spanning fifty two years, Vic’s outstanding service to arts and crafts in Australia and the VWA was recognised with an OAM in the Australia Day honours list in January 2012. Vic passed away in 2020.
The VWA has established a scholarship to honour Vic Wood’s legacy and to further the aims of the VWA. The intent of the award is to promote excellence in woodwork and to engender inclusive and supportive woodworking networks.
The VWA is an inclusive woodworking organisation and encourages everyone to apply.
The Vic Wood Scholarship will be awarded to a VWA member to undertake a woodworking course or educational opportunity:
- That supports an emerging fine woodworker
- That furthers the acquisition of woodworking skills and knowledge
- That promotes the sharing and development of skills and knowledge among the broader woodworking community
The successful applicant will receive a $2000 grant to further their skills in woodwork or woodwork teaching.
The grant is open each year to VWA members across Australia with one successful applicant.
The scholarship can be applied to educational opportunities provided by woodworking schools, programs, instructors, or mentors and can be applied to course fees, tuition, travel or lodging costs.
Applicants can propose formal or informal activities including tertiary education, structured courses from private/not-for-profit wood schools, overseas courses, mentoring, apprenticeship, bench access etc.
Informal activities may need to be evidenced in some way, such as through a letter of support from the mentor and proof of expenses.
Submit your application as .doc or .pdf to the VWA at scholarships@vwa.org.au by August 31st 2024.