The rebirth of "church" in Eastern Europe has given us a heart for talented musicians who do not have the personal resources or the ability to raise funds to travel to such an event. Their hunger for church music and Christian fellowship has given the ICMF a very special mission and unique opportunity for its participants. In 1985 we began an unofficial scholarship "fund" to help assist musicians from Eastern Europe to attend the Festival.

The "fund" began when a colleague mentioned that he knew of a church musician in Prague who would truly love to be a part of our festival in Bern in 1986.  We contacted that gentleman (who was then Assistant Conductor of the Moravian Symphony and directed a Baptist choir in Prague) and learned that he indeed really yearned to attend such an event.  The difficulty was that he had very little income and to leave his country he had to have a written invitation from us, plus a guarantee that as hosts, we would provide all expenses for his travel.   

We forwarded the necessary money to The Czech Bank with our letter of invitation/guarantee.  It all seemed terribly complicated but, on opening day of the Festival, we were pleased to meet our scholarship guest in Bern.  To cover the cost of his travel and his local expenses we simply "passed the hat" and expressed our hope that the registrants from the west might like to be involved. They did, and thus, the Scholarship Fund was begun. 

Made Possible by The Scholarship Fund:

• In 1990 in Coventry, donations solely from registrants funded a string quartet from Zlin and two pastors from Prague, plus an East German trumpet player and a marvelous group from Poland called Jerycho. 
• In 1992 we had almost 100 musicians attending from Czechoslovakia and Poland... tremendous growth from our simple idea of scholarshipping one person in 1986. 
• In 1993 we had a representative from China as well as an orchestra from Zlin in addition to our returning participants from Poland. 
• In 1994, two registrants from China, 42 from Lithuania, and 9 from Tanzania, added to our Czech and Polish friends, helped make the 10th anniversary Festival our most international to date. 
• In Bern, in 1995, a choir of 35 from the Ukraine expanded our reach into the former Soviet Union.  Also, we added a Latvian-based representative to develop greater future participation from the Baltic States. 
• In 1996 we hosted our first Estonian choir along with groups from Poland and the Czech Republic. 
• In 1997 our International ranks swelled to include participants from Brazil, Latvia, Bulgaria, The Czech Republic, Germany, the Netherlands and Poland. 
• In 1998 we added talented singers from India and from Romania. 
• By 2000 the Slovak Republic and Ghana scholarship registrants stretched our borders even further. 
• The 2001 event included our first Choir from Kenya and in 2003 we had our first group from Russia.