Application Launch: Calling America's Talents!
We are excited to announce that the YoungArts 2013 application cycle is officially open!  Each year, more than 5,000 students apply to the YoungArts program.  Through a blind adjudication process, our esteemed panelists select the national winners, all of whom become program alumni and receive access to master classes, scholarships, fellowships, opportunities to perform and exhibit their works, and more.  

YoungArts also is the sole path to the U.S. Presidential Scholars in the Arts awards, an honor given to just 20 outstanding graduating high school seniors annually.  Please enjoy this brief video highlighting the 30+ year impact of the YoungArts program.

Since artistic talent matures at different rates for different disciplines, and young artists hit their artistic “peak” at varying ages, we now are expanding the age range of eligible applicants.  As of December 1, 2012, applicants must be:

• Between the ages of 15-18 years old, OR 
• Students in high school grades 10, 11 or 12.

For more details regarding eligibility – and the benefits of applying to YoungArts - click here, or contact us at (305) 377-1140 or apply@youngarts.org.

We look forward to hearing from all the talented young artists nationwide!

Regional Program Recap

YoungArts recently completed two successful and memorable Regional Programs in South Florida (February 2-26) and the greater New York regions (March 8-11). The amazingly talented young artists wowed their audiences, and we couldn’t be prouder! YoungArts Miami winners exhibited their works at ARTSEEN Gallery in Wynwood, performed at The Colony Theatre and New World Center on Miami Beach, and enjoyed the rare opportunity to take master classes and interdisciplinary workshops from world-renowned artists including Mikhail Baryshnikov, Michael Tilson Thomas, Edward Villella, Maria Martinez-Cañas, Daniel Arsham, Roberto Juarez, Tarell Alvin McCraney, Arthur Whitelaw, Helen Donath, Leah Cox and other South Florida masters in a variety of disciplines.  For photos, click here.

For more information about YoungArts’ Regional Programs, click here.

A Treehouse for Dreaming

YoungArts is pleased to share a very special place with you – A Treehouse for Dreaming.

Located in New York City’s Central Park, “A Treehouse for Dreaming” is dedicated, by YoungArts, to all artists as a place to foster creativity and the collaborative spirit in an open and beautiful atmosphere in the middle of America’s greatest city. You can find this rustic and enchanting 19th-century summer house on the east perimeter of Central Park, right off the entrance near 67th Street on Fifth Avenue – making “A Treehouse for Dreaming” hard to miss.

But just in case, and in an effort to help all dreamers find the Treehouse, YoungArts Alumnus Chat Travieso (Visual Arts, 2003) has created a map that will help you arrive to your destination. 

YoungArts hopes this enchanting house will serve as a destination of contemplation and inspiration for all of its visitors. And we ask that, when you visit, please share your photos with us, so we can share them with other dreamers!  Email alumni@youngarts.org or post them on Facebook or Twitter to the handle @YoungArts. 

Happy Dreaming!

Valuing the YoungArts Recognition

Barbra Weidlein, mother of YoungArts Alumnus Daniel Weidlein (Jazz, 2008) and co-founder of MajoringInMusic.com, a resource for prospective music majors, writes about the value of the YoungArts recognition.

“I received the YoungArts recognition at a critical juncture in my high school career,” Daniel recalls. “At the time, I was submitting my pre-screen auditions to schools all over the country, and while I was feeling pretty good about my ability as a saxophone player and knew how I stacked up against other sax players in the state of Colorado after three years in All-State, I had no perspective on how I compared with players across the country. Receiving the award gave me renewed confidence going into my pre-screens and live auditions. I felt that I had only to play my best to have a significant shot at getting into any of the schools I was interested in.” Daniel and I both suspect that the YoungArts award helped provide the nine schools he applied and was accepted to, with the impetus to look more seriously at his applications and auditions.

Read the full post, here.

Where are They Now?

+Between March 22 and May 13, from sundown to midnight, alumnus Doug Aitken’s (Visual Arts, 1986) "SONG 1" installation will be on view outside of the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Musem and Sculpture Garden. It is the first-ever work of 360-degree cinema to be presented in a continuous, cylindrical format.   Read more.

+Kerry Washington (Theater, 1994), stars in the new ABC showScandal (from the creator and executive producers of Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice), premiering April 5.  Read more

+YoungArts and X Factor Alumnus, Marcus Canty (Voice, 2009), released his new single on March 12! Read more (and listen) here.

+Max Schneider (Theater, 2010) is starring in Nickelodeon’s hot new show,How to Rock, airing every Saturday night at 8:30PM / 7:30PM! Tune in.

We now are accepting applications for the 2013 YoungArts program! 

Sounds of YoungArts / 2012, the first Alumni compilation CD, is now available for purchase!
Order now.

There are many ways of getting involved with YoungArts!
Learn how.

Have a question about our programs or events? Call
(305) 377-1140 or email us at communication@youngarts.org

// June 17, 2012
U.S. Presidential Scholars in the Arts 2012 / Exhibition and Writers' Readings

Smithsonian American Art Museum
Washington, D.C.

// June 18, 2012
U.S. Presidential Scholars in the Arts 2012 / Performance

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Concert Hall 
Washington, D.C.

The Arts Matter

March is Youth Arts Month. Alumna Ava Wilson, who works with youth in Dallas, joins us this month as contributor to this column to discuss this month and why youth, and the arts, matter.

Arts in the ever-changing social and educational climate became the buffer for students living in South Dallas.  Amidst school closings and gentrification, this historically black section of the city evolves despite the wishes of the community.  As an arts educator who teaches creative writing and theater with a theater company of my own (Soul Children’s Theatre Company), giving children a voice through poetry, design, acting and performance art allows them to understand the cathartic power of art and how they can approximate their thoughts and emotions to these changes.  So, while their community transforms cosmetically for the better, they are able to articulate how they are individually affected by the changes of their realities.  

Now that YoungArts changed its eligibility requirements and now accepts 15-18 year olds, more of the students that I work with and students like them from across the country will have the ability to share their art with a larger audience. Such an opportunity can bring social awareness about the happenings in the inner-city to those who may otherwise not be informed.

Art Matters.

Ava Wilson, 2004 YoungArts Winner in Writing, U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts and Artistic Director of Soul Children's Theatre Company in Dallas, Texas

Sponsor Spotlight

YoungArts recognizes Wells Fargofor its generous support of the YoungArts Miami Regional Program, including its sponsorship of the Arts Access program, allowing nearly 2,000 Miami-Dade high school students to attend the dress rehearsal of the Alumni performance at the 2012 An Affair of the Arts, Performance and Gala and learn more about applying to the YoungArts program. 

Wells Fargo believes strongly in supporting organizations that strengthen communities, knowing this is the future of our nation's vitality and success.

We thank Wells Fargo for championing this special program and ensuring that many more young people have access to the arts.