(RED BANK, NJ) -- As part of its FOREVER FOR EVERYONE endowment campaign, the Count Basie Center has announced the availability of the Charlie Puth Performance Scholarship, named for GRAMMY-nominated, multi-platinum singer/songwriter/producer and former student at the Count Basie Center Academy of the Arts.

Interested students may now apply for a Charlie Puth Performance Scholarship at www.thebasie.org/puth.  Two, $1500 scholarships will be awarded annually and in perpetuity, which can be used for any program offered at the Basie Center Academy.

The announcement comes as Puth returns home to the Jersey Shore to perform in his biggest area show to date – a performance onSaturday, June 3 at PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel. He has previously sold out the Basie Center on two occasions.

“I’m honored that the Count Basie Center has created the Charlie Puth Performance Scholarship. Performing arts were an integral part of my childhood, and I am glad to see that future students will have access to the same opportunity at the Count Basie Center” said Puth.

Puth was named Honorary Chair of the Count Basie Center’s FOREVER FOR EVERYONE endowment during a sold-out performance here last October. The campaign aims to create hundreds of annual scholarships to students interested in studying the performing arts, while amplifying diversity and inclusivity in the Basie Center’s educational offerings and programming.

To date, the Basie Center has raised just over half of the campaign’s $20m goal.

“Charlie’s support of this campaign and the fondness he’s expressed for his time here as a student demonstrate the enriching and rewarding power of arts education,” said Adam Philipson, President and CEO, Count Basie Center for the Arts. “His trajectory to stardom, and the confidence and poise he’s demonstrated as a performer, producer – and quite frankly as a person – are ideals that align with a life steeped in the performing arts.”

The inaugural Charlie Puth scholarships will be awarded in August for Basie Center Academy offerings in the forthcoming fall winter, spring or summer semesters. For more information on upcoming Academy offerings, visit www.thebasie.org/academy.