An $859,000 gift from the Windgate Foundation will expand Philander Smith College's arts education and supply scholarships to students who enroll in the programs, the college announced Friday.
The private college, which enrolled 804 students this fall, is the latest in a string of Arkansas institutions of higher learning to receive a gift from the Windgate Foundation, which has made substantial donations to the state's private and public two-year and four-year colleges for years. Philander Smith has received grants from the foundation previously.
The Windgate Foundation will distribute the funding announced Friday over a three-year period.
Currently, the historically black college has a minor in visual and performing arts but doesn't have a bachelor degree in it. The grant will help fund one.
For the bachelor degree, the college is planning courses in "applied digital media and graphic design, various studio arts, animation and photography classes, among others," according to the news release announcing the gift.