The Willa Kim Costume Design Scholarship program is no longer accepting applications for the 2026 round.

Deadline: Friday, November 21, 2025 at 10:59pm ET. Please note the time zone.

Overview Program Description TIMELINE Application Information Recipients

Overview

Two recipients will receive up to $7,500 each to be used towards tuition, registration fees, supplies and/or travel expenses over a one-year period between June 1, 2026 - May 31, 2027. International study is allowable, but the scholarship will only cover tuition, registration fees, supplies and/or travel expenses to participate in extracurricular (non-credit) training in hand-drawing and/or painting.

The Willa Kim Costume Design Scholarship program is designed and administered by TCG with support from the Estate of Willa Kim. 

Information Session

Learn everything you need to know about applying for the Willa Kim Costume Design Scholarship! This information session (held on October 29) covers eligibility, the application process, and how this opportunity can help emerging designers grow their craft and careers.

Instagram Live

TCG spoke with one of our previous Willa Kim scholarship recipients, Lana Nguyen, on Instagram Live about how her process went from applicant to recipient and how she plans to continue growing in the costume design space moving forward. Click the photo above to view the interview.

WILLA KIM was a costume designer for ballet, theatre, opera, and television. Among many honors were Tony Awards for Duke Ellington’s Sophisticated Ladies and Tommy Tune’s The Will Rogers Follies, and Tony nominations for Peter Allen’s Legs Diamond, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Song & Dance, Bob Fosse’s Dancin’, and Joel Grey’s Goodtime Charley. She won Drama Desk Awards for Jean Genet’s The Screens, Irene Fornes’ Promenade, and Sam Shepard’s Operation Sidewinder; Obie Awards for Robert Lowell’s The Old Glory and Lanie Robertson’s Woman Before A Glass; and Emmy Awards for the PBS broadcasts of Michael Smuin’s ballets The Tempest and A Song For Dead Warriors.

 Ms. Kim received lifetime achievement awards from the Fashion Institute of Technology and the United States Institute for Theatre Technology. The Theatre Development Fund honored her with the Irene Sharaff Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 2007 she was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame.

For more information, please contact Raksak Kongseng (she/they) at [email protected].