The Escapists

In 2012, John Ross Palmer Art collector Patrick Evans endowed the John Ross Palmer Escapism Scholarship at his beloved alma mater, Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois.  For many years, Evans has been captivated by Palmer’s wise business acumen and passion for coaching artists and so it was his desire to give back to his school and make this opportunity available for a young, emerging artist at the onset of his or her career.  After a year of campus-wide promotion, a handful of talented artists were nominated by the faculty with two Finalists submitting written applications and appearing via Skype for an interview.  The inaugural Millikin Escapist, Mr. Michael Schultz, worked with Palmer and Lindsay diligently in 2014–mainly focusing on making the trip to Houston from St. Louis to appear and show to Palmer’s plethora of collectors at his annual Escapism Weekend.  Shultz launched an Indiegogo Campaign asking for assistance to get him to Houston to make this dream come true.  Shultz set a time-frame of 23 days to earn $1,500.  His campaign was 122% funded within 8 hours of its launch.

The second Millikin Escapist selected was Michelle Sendy in 2015. The partnership between the Escapist Program and Millikin University ended that year.