O'Keefe Scholarship

To be considered as a candidate for the O’Keefe Scholarship, eligible applicants must:
– Be Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada
– Be 15 to 18 years of age
– Submit a one page written component describing their artistic aspirations
– Submit 5 minimum, 10 maximum pieces of original art in any medium consisting of observational drawings, paintings, concept art, illustrations or street art
– Meet the O’Keefe Scholarship Financial Needs Criteria
– O’Keefe Scholarship Financial Needs Criteria application is a form provided with the scholarship application.
– Submit all application material by the scholarship application deadlines

The O’Keefe Scholarship covers the full tuition of the 2021/2022 Session II of the Animation Portfolio Workshop.
Patrick O’Keefe will also provide a private mentoring component (via Skype) for the scholarship recipient, consisting of one session per month for the duration of the Fall Session.
Gwartzman’s Art Supplies will supply the successful applicant with all required art materials free of charge for the duration of the APW Session

Full tuition fee for regular 38-week session is $5,500.00 CDN. The Scholarship is not transferable to another year and can only be used for the Fall Workshop that falls within the same calendar year in which the scholarship recipient has been chosen.

1. Fill out the online Financial Needs Criteria Form and submit by the deadline.
2. Applicants that meet the financial needs criteria will be invited to submit 5 -10 pieces of original artwork in a digital file format and a 1 page description of their artistic goals and aspirations by the deadline.
3. The successful applicant is contacted and must submit all of the previously tendered art in its original form.
4. The successful applicant is awarded the scholarship.
5. Successful applicants will be contacted directly by APW. Applicants may not contact APW during the adjudication process to get information of any kind on the status of their application.

Patrick O’Keefe is a Toronto-born, Los Angeles-based illustrator and art director. He began his artistic pursuit while attending Northern Secondary School in Toronto. At the behest of his high school art teacher, Mr. Steve MacNaughton, and in preparation for his post-secondary studies, Patrick enrolled in the Animation Portfolio Workshop (APW). After working with APW directors Gerard Sternik and Vincent Peets, Patrick soon discovered that this program would become the beginning of a lifelong pursuit of art, hard work, and mentorship that would lay the foundation of discipline for a career as a commercial artist.

After completing the APW program, Patrick studied illustration at Sheridan College before transferring to the Emily Carr University of Art and Design, where he received his Bachelor of Media Arts in Film and Animation Design.

Most recently, Patrick served as an art director on Sony Pictures Oscar winning animation feature film Spider-Man™: Into the Spider-Verse, which was released in December 2018

The idea for the scholarship arose from Patrick’s desire to give back to the community that gave so much to him. As a teenager, Patrick had the drive to pursue his craft, but not necessarily the means. The goal of the O’Keefe Scholarship is to find those in a similar position and eliminate the financial barrier that could possibly prevent a rising artist from achieving their goals, as well as to create an ongoing mentorship to open up a dialogue between emerging and establishing artists.

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