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Berkshire woodworkers’ guild

2026 Scholarship Program

This year the Berkshire Woodworkers Guild will offer multiple scholarships up to $4,000 each to students planning to pursue a career in woodworking.  

Interested students should visit berkshirewoodworkers.org/scholarship for a description of our program, application guidelines, and our online application.   The application deadline is May 31st.

The Berkshire Woodworkers Guild, founded in 1998, is in the Tri-state Massachusetts/New York/Connecticut area. Its 120 members have supported a diverse group of students planning to become professional woodworkers. To that end, we have established a scholarship fund supported by generous financial contributions and by the proceeds from our annual auction to which guild members donate a variety of beautiful wooden objects. To date, we’ve awarded over $116,000 to woodworkers aspiring to the profession.

Our scholarship recipients have attended some of the finest woodworking and wooden boat building schools in the country including, among others, the North Bennet Street School in Boston; the University of California at San Diego program in Design & Woodworking; the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship in Rockport, Maine; the Krenov School in Fort Bragg, California; the Apprentice Shop in Rockport, Maine; and the International Yacht Restoration School in Newport, Rhode Island.

We invite scholarship recipients to visit our annual furniture show (on Labor Day Weekend) and meet our members. It is our hope that after they have completed their program of study, they will return to display some of their work.

Joel Mark and Thom Lipiczky
Scholarship Program Coordinators

 

Castle Jurs Family Scholarships

WHAT THIS IS:

Wendell Castle was a pioneer of stack laminated carving and promoting this technique is one of the organization’s core missions. The Castle Jurs Family Scholarships cover full tuition for one student for each of our two stack lamination classes:

Design Techniques and Tools for Stack Lamination, July 11-12, 2026

Stack Lamination Fabrication and Carving, July 13-17, 2026

The classes are taught by Castle’s longtime employee and stack lamination expert Taeyoul Ryu.

WHO IS ELIGIBLE:

These scholarships aim to provide opportunities to communities who have been traditionally underserved in the woodworking world, such as women, minorities, and LGBTQ+ people. (We are unfortunately not able to accommodate people with disabilities at this time.) Preference is given to applicants from the Rochester, NY area but we encourage people from anywhere to apply.

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APPLICANT REQUIREMENTS:

Applicants must be 21 or older. As the classes are aimed and intermediate and advanced students, basic woodworking skills and experience with machines are required.

Please note: housing and transportation are not provided.

Complete and submit the form below to apply to the Castle Jurs Family Scholarship.

Scholarship Application
Name
For which class would you like to apply? If you wish, you may select to be considered for either class.
By signing this form, participant agrees to respect the property of WCW. Except for gross negligence or willful misconduct by WCW, participant agrees to indemnify and hold WCW harmlass from any and all demands, claims, suits, actions, losses, damages, judgements, liabilities, causes, obligation, and reasonable expenses. WCW's insurance policy contains the usual exclusionsfor loss or damage., The participant agrees to release WCW and its directors, officers, and volunteers from liability for any claims arising out of such loss or damage.