The Lincoln Arts Festival board of directors has awarded Boothbay Region High School graduate Ben Betts the Malama Robbins scholarship award. The honor and $1,000 scholarship are awarded annually to a local student who is pursuing music in higher education.

Betts is well known locally for his musical enthusiasm and talent. He gives guitar lessons, plays steel drums at Rocktide nightly during happy hour in the summer, and experiments with numerous instruments. His fall college plans include studying music and psychology at Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass.

The Malama Robbins award is given by the Lincoln Arts Festival from a fund provided in memory of the renowned choral director and teacher who helped found (along with Captain Marion Dash) the organization in 1982. A resident of Sarasota, Fla., and Southport, she was the first artistic director of the group’s summer concert series and conductor of its Lincoln Festival chorus. When she died in 1997, a fund was established to carry on her vision for supporting young musicians.

Robbins herself had been an accomplished pianist by the age of 9 and unusually mature singer by the age of 13. She studied at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, founded a college chorus which she lead on several world tours, and performed at the Vatican in Rome, at the Pope’s invitation. She was a great believer in power of music, and continues to influence young musicians through this award.