Ever since we met him, as the face of the charming Highlander Jamie Fraser in the STARZ time travel drama, Outlander, but also off-camera, as a spokesman for great charitable causes and ambassador of Scotland, Sam Heughan has inspired and conquered our hearts in so many different ways. What better way to pay it back than to give someone the opportunity to follow his path thanks to a arts scholarship in his honor? It’s precisely this double cause that motivated the legendary team who gave life to the Supernova Legacy Scholarship!
We at Survived The Shows had the pleasure of hosting an great Zoom chat with the amazing team behind the Supernova Legacy Scholarship: Lisa Shaw, Bridget Dinehart, Susie Reynolds, Rebeca Gutierrez and JoJo Podszuck, who shared some beautiful stories about what they accomplished since the beginning of their journey with this incredible initiative.
Marked by different personal stories, but with a great common motivation, this explosive group of women has created an initiative that best represents the philosophy that their idol Sam Heughan carries out: pay the favor of many emotions given back and give in turn someone the opportunity to follow their dreams.
It all began in the summer of 2020, when Sandra and Nicole, two of the founders of the project, had the same idea to contact the Royal Consevatoire of Scotland (RCS), an academy of dramatic arts where the Outlander star studied, to create something to honor Sam Heughan’s legacy while also helping young artists to pursue their dream in arts
Since then, a lot of beautiful things happened.
They had a successful first campaign, which ended in April 2021 at the first Supernova Legacy Gala, and after that they kept working with RCS to develop an MOA, a Memorandum of Agreement, which determines what they do with the money the donors raise. Thanks to the amazing contribution of Outlander and Sam’s fans all over the world, but not only, six students received a Supernova Legacy Scholarship that allowed them to attend RCS without worrying about the economic factor. The scholarship itself covers either tuition fees and non-tuition fees like their living accomodation and other expenses they may have while attending drama school.
After a little break to recharge themselves after so much hard work, the team started working on a new campaign, since they agreed to work with RCS for a three-year period. They took a risk and launched a second campaign within the same year, in November 2021.
“It is really ambitious, but we wanted to kind of get ahead of the holiday season. And here we are! We extended the campaign beyond three months, so we’ve been working even longer, but we have some really exciting things planned for the Gala, which is coming up next weekend. That will culminate this year’s campaign”
Lisa Shaw
The girls couldn’t feel more rewarded of such hard work, but they recognize they couldn’t have done any of this without the contribution of all the amazing donors who joined the campaign. Without their help those students wouldn’t be achieving anything they had with the help of this scholarship.
“It is remarkable to have done any of that in the middle of a pandemic, where things are really really difficult for a lot of people both financially, you know in terms of their lives, their health, their work. So to be able to raise, I think between last year and this year, at the moment right now we’re over 43.000$ raised. To have done that in a short time and in the middle of a pandemic is quite an achievement for us and we’re really proud of that!”
Lisa Shaw
This year the group extended itself and they welcomed two Supernova newbies: Rebeca and JoJo!
Discussing what drew them to the Supernova Legacy project, both Rebeca and JoJo pointed out what a pleasure has been to work alongside the original team and contribute to such an inspiring inititative.
Rebeca has been following the initiative all along since the beginning, and she was always willing to give them help when they needed. When the OG, as she calls them, reached out to her to join the team actively she couldn’t be happier. Also because, having a daughter herself who is an arts student, really gets how important it is to support young students who can’t afford tuitions and all what it takes financially to be a drama student.
On her part, JoJo is the one who could bring the perspective of a young girl whose future is still so uncertain to the team. She’s an artist, and despite she’s not a drama student, she can really feel what it takes for a young student to build its future and how not everybody can afford studying abroad and all the expences needed. So, joining the team was her chance to help and spread hope to people like her who are trying to shape their future and pursue their dreams.
On April 30, the Supernova Legacy team will be hosting their second Gala – a super fun event to celebrating this year’s campaign. What can people who will be joining expect?
As Susie teased during our chat, people who will join the Supernova Legacy Gala, which is coming on Zoom next April 30 at 5.30pm EDT, can expect much fun.
The event will feature some really special guests, such as some of the recipients of the Supernova Legacy Scholarship, but also Paul Donnely, Joanne Thomson and Euan Bennet from Outlander, who happen to be RCS graduates. There will also be some musical guests, including some RCS students. Claire from Prickly Thristle will be hosting a live walk-through through the Mill. According to the girls, she has something really special to let everybody know about.
There will be drinks, as Sandra, one of the Supernova Girls will be making a new cocktail live called the Harley, which features both the Sassenach Whiksy and Tequila, but also food as celebrity chef Tony Sing, who was featured in episode 1 of Men In Kilts, will be joining the event through a pre-recorded video and sharing some very special recipes in honor of the Gala.
That really sounds like a one-in-million night! Don’t forget to purchase your ticket at https://www.supernovalegacy.com/product-page/virtual-galaticket!
Anyone, from any part of the world, can join the project and donate.
Just go to their website www.supernovalegacy.com, and make a donation. It’s possible to donate directly through the Just Giving page or by purchasing merchandise, whose profit will be entirely donated to the scholarship.
To know more about the project and keep yourself updated on what’s next for Supernova Legacy Scholarship, follow the team on Instagram @supernovalegacyscholarship, Facebook Supernova Legacy Scholarship and Twitter @supernovalegac1!
Keep following us for more news on Outlander Season 6 and its cast!
Chiara
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