The Mona Johnsson Scholarship

SWEA New York chapter is looking for candidates with ties to New York who are advancing knowledge of Swedish culture, traditions, language, history or society.  

  • SWEA, the Swedish Women’s Educational Association, is a global non-profit organization for Swedish and Swedish-speaking women who are living or have lived outside of Sweden. SWEA’s mission includes supporting and raising awareness of the Swedish language, culture and traditions. SWEA supports education through scholarships and other projects.

    Last year, two projects were awarded the SWEA New York Mona Johnsson Scholarship, both in the amount of $1,500. Emma Harling received the scholarship for researching and studying the Swedish women's textile movement, creating handmade repeated patterns on fabric in this tradition, and presenting the results through an exhibition in New York 2015. In Sweden, there’s a very long tradition of creating textiles, a skill which is historically practiced by women. Emma has made prints for Michael Kors, Gwen Stefani, Clinique, H&M and Anthropologie.

  • The SWEA New York Mona Johnsson Scholarship 2014 was also awarded to Elda Garcia Posadas for arranging dramatized readings of Hjalmar Bergman's “Clownen Jac” in English and in Spanish in New York in 2015. Elda has translated books by authors such as Strindberg, Sjöwall and Wahlöö, Selma Lagerlof and Astrid Lindgren from Swedish to Spanish, and took a leave from her position as a legal adviser at Madrid's regional government, EU Chamber, while translating “Clownen Jac” in New York. Elda used the scholarship to cover location rent and marketing and print material the performances.

    SWEA was founded in 1979 in Los Angeles by Agneta Nilsson and has since then grown to consist of 7,500 members across 70 chapters in 33 countries around the world. The New York chapter of SWEA was established in 1983 and has approximately 200 members. Mona Johnsson was one of the founders of SWEA New York, and remained a very active and involved member until she died in 2014. SWEA New York’s scholarship is awarded in fond memory of her. The application deadline is December 15.
    For more information, or to submit your application, please email sweanyscholarship@gmail.com

  • More information can be found here: http://newyork.swea.org