Pat DiNizio Scholarship Offered For Basie Youth Programs In Red Bank

RED BANK, NJ — The Pat DiNizio Musical Performance Scholarship gives young people a chance to take creative programs offered at the Count Basie Center for the Arts, and scholarship applications are now being accepted for 2024.

DiNizio, frontman for the New Jersey Hall Of Fame band The Smithereens, passed away in December 2017.

Named in his honor, the scholarship was established in 2018.

Interested students aged 18 and under may apply by completing an online form and submitting an audition video at thebasie.org/dinizio. Deadline for submissions is Nov. 15 and finalists will be announced Dec. 1, the Basie Center for the Arts says.

Scholarship winners can choose from any Basie musical performance program, including the Basie Center’s Monmouth Conservatory of Music, Lakehouse Music Academy at the Basie or the Jazz Arts Academy.

“All of us in The Smithereens began our lifelong love affairs with music at a tender age,” said Dennis Diken, founding member and drummer of The Smithereens. “It’s gratifying to know that the annual Pat DiNizio Musical Performance Scholarship at the Count Basie Center for the Arts is helping to foster creativity in young people at a time in their lives when they can look forward to following their muse with their whole lives ahead of them.”

At the time of his passing, DiNizio and The Smithereens had just announced plans for a Basie Center performance to be hosted by E Street Band guitarist and Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, Steven Van Zandt.

The concert instead became a tribute to DiNizio, featuring Smithereens bandmates Diken, Jim Babjak and Mike Mesaros, fronted by an array of vocalists including Marshall Crenshaw, Ted Leo, Gin Blossoms lead singer Robin Wilson, Scandal’s Patty Smyth, Freedy Johnston, Richard Barone, Severo Jornacion and others.

A portion of sales from that concert and money raised worldwide during a live webcast of the show helped create the scholarship fund.

“The Smithereens are an appreciated, integral part of New Jersey’s celebrated music scene,” said Samantha Giustiniani, vice president of Education and Outreach for the Count Basie Center for the Arts. “We are proud that a scholarship exists in co-founder and lead singer Pat DiNizio’s name to allow a new generation of music performers find themselves and express themselves through the performing arts.”

As a nonprofit organization, the Basie is committed to generating opportunities for participation in the arts, partnering with schools, collaborating with other mission-based organizations and driving regional economic prosperity, the center says.

Count Basie Center programming is made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. For more information, visit www.thebasie.org.

Founded in New Jersey in 1980 by Jim Babjak, Dennis Diken, Mike Mesaros, and Pat DiNizio, The Smithereens have produced 18 albums and performed 2,500-plus live shows. Their most recent release, The Lost Album, features 12 songs recorded in 1993 when they were between labels. The songs were never before available until now. For more information, visit www.officialsmithereens.com.