The Posse Foundation and Bard College have announced the creation of the Puerto Rico Arts Posse Scholars program.

Launched in collaboration with actor and producer Lin-Manuel Miranda and the Miranda Family Fund and Bard College, the program is an expansion of the Posse Arts initiative, which identifies, selects, and works with high school seniors in Puerto Rico interested in pursuing undergraduate arts degrees at U.S. colleges on the mainland. Over the next five years, Bard will award more than $10 million in full-tuition scholarships and provide students with pre-college coaching prior to matriculation and faculty mentoring after they are enrolled.

"It's difficult to overstate the importance of having leaders in the arts who reflect our unique diversity," said Posse Foundation founder and president Deborah Bial. "So much of who we are and who we can imagine ourselves becoming hinges on representation. Our expansion to Puerto Rico is a natural extension of Posse's mission to build a diverse, equitable, inclusive leadership network we can all be proud of. I'm so thankful to Lin-Manuel and President [Leon] Botstein at Bard for collaborating on this exciting initiative."

"As the son of two Puerto Rican migrants, this project is especially meaningful to me," said Miranda, the award-winning creator and star of the Broadway musicals In the Heights and Hamilton. "So much of my work as an artist is informed and enriched by my Puerto Rican heritage. I'm excited to partner with Posse to increase opportunities for the next generation of Boricuas to lead as actors, musicians, painters, dancers, sculptors."