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Toronto Canada - February 6, 2006 Western Union and Pan Arts Network collaborate to award innovative scholarship programme. On Jan 21st 2006 the Pan Arts Network and Western Union Union Financial Services Canada announced the inaugural, Western Union - Pan Arts Network Scholarship. This scholarship is to be awarded to a steel pan player who has been accepted to a post secondary institution to study music. Special consideration will be given to students using the steel pan as their instrument of choice. Grace, Kennedy and Western Union Marketing Consultant Pearson Burch- Smith, commented at the launching that this scholarship initative marries the spheres of education and culture that Western Union has supported over the years. We believe that as a corporate citizen it is incumbent upon us to engage the community in ways that wil uplift and empower. Wendy Jones of Pan Arts Network commented, “Pan players are dedicated members of our community that invest countless hours honing their craft often times with the only reward being the the beauty of the music that they produce. This scholarship gives the steel pan and pan players the respect they deserve. Western Union is a global leader in money transfer and message services, with a history of pioneering service dating back more than 150 years. Today Western Union continues to help consumers and businesses transfer money or make payments using money orders and other electronic systems. Consumers can quickly and easily transfer money to more than 225,000 Western Union Agent locations in over 200 countries and territories worldwide - the largest network of its kind. Western Union remains an industry leader in providing fast and reliable money and messaging services. Western Union Financial Services, Inc. is a subsidiary of First Data Corp. Pan Arts Network is the organization that produces the annual winter steelpan extravaganza Snowflakes on Steel concerts. PAN as it’s generally called grew out of the major Steelbands of Toronto who first got together to organize the Snowflakes on Steel concerts. These concerts began as an initiative of the major steelbands in the GTA to showcase their music outside of the Caribana festival. Opportunities were limited during the Caribana for bringing a wider and more extensive repertoire to their audiences so the bands took the next step of producing their own showcase. The concerts were also a stimulus to the arrangers and musicians to develop their musicianship and arranging skills. In many ways these goals have been met. There has been a growth in the level of musicianship and musicality in the arrangements steelbands now bring to the concert. The developing musicianship has in addition spawned a number of soloist musicians whose music cried out for their own forum. That cry gave birth to the concert series featuring pan soloists called Autumn Leaves The concerts have generated tremendous interest in audiences and it’s now a feature of the winter music scene. Bands have played to sold out audiences at the Snowflakes concerts and the audiences are growing in response the musical delights they found at the Autumn Leaves on Steel concerts. With the success of the concerts the steelbands realized in the last few years they needed an organization that would be the business face of the organizers who are the steelbands themselves. Finding that they had to work with variety of organizations in producing the concerts the bands created PAN to take care of the business aspects of concert production. The Western Union - PAN Arts Network Scholarship Eligibility Criteria • Maintain a cumulative grade average of 75% or higher in six grade 12 courses. • Have completed 40 hours of community service written evidence of this must be provided. • Receive written nomination and signature from a school official not related to the student • Have applied to and have been accepted to an accredited university or college music program o Students who are using the steel pan as their instrument of choice in post secondary study will be given special consideration • Submit a conditional acceptance from an accredited university or college by June 1st • Applicants must submit a 500 word essay outlining their steel pan expertise and their hopes an aspirations • Open to all pan players in the GTA between the ages of 16 – 24 years. • The applicant must be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident. Application deadline: July 1st 2006 Mailing address Pan Arts Network 26 Coyote Crescent Toronto M1B 6G9 Ontario Notification of the scholarship will be sent to schools, steelbands and community organizations. For further information please contact, Pearson Burch- Smith Marketing Consultant (Caribbean) Western Union Financial Services Canada pburchsmith@rogers.com Tel 905-886-7439 Wendy Jones Earl La Pierre Jr Pan Arts Network 26 Coyote Crescent Toronto, M1B 6G9 Ontario