Tallahassee Democrat: Samantha Crawford, a junior at Lincoln High School, is the recipient of a $2500 MPower Artist Grant from the Sphinx Organization

Samantha Crawford

(Photo Special to The Democrat)

Tallahassee Democrat

Lincoln High junior wins $2500 Sphinx grant

Special to the Democrat May 10, 2016

Samantha Crawford, a junior at Lincoln High School, is the recipient of a $2500 MPower Artist Grant from the Sphinx Organization.

Samantha, who is a classically-trained violinist and a member of Tallahassee Youth Orchestra, is one of only 18 alumni nationwide receiving a 2016 MPower Artist Grant from the Sphinx Organization, a Detroit-based national organization dedicated to transforming lives through the power of diversity in the arts.

The grant will allow her to attend the 2016 Philadelphia International Music Festival at Bryn Mawr College this summer, according to the organization's website.

Samantha has studied the violin privately for eleven years, first, in the private studio of Patrice Minor-Floyd, and, later, with Valerie Arsenault. She has performed locally and statewide, including events sponsored by Governors Charlie Crist in 2010 and Rick Scott in 2013. Samantha has also appeared with Florida State University's Bill Peterson's Jazz Trio. Most recently she performed with the professional violin duo, Black Violin, as part of Tallahassee's Opening Nights Arts Celebration at FSU's Ruby Diamond Auditorium.