YoungArts Applications Opens TODAY
Company:
YoungArts
NATIONAL YOUNGARTS FOUNDATION’S
CALL FOR 2016 APPLICATIONS OPENS TODAY
YoungArts Alumni Daniel Arsham, Terence Blanchard, Anna Gunn, Philip Neal, Desmond Richardson, Conrad Tao, Ricky Ubeda, Kerry Washington, and Chris Young Encourage Artists 15-18 Years Old or in Grades 10-12 to
Apply Through October 16, 2015
WHAT:
Today the National YoungArts Foundation (YoungArts), the non-profit organization that recognizes and nurtures the nation’s most talented young artists in the visual, literary, design and performing arts, announced that the call for applications to become a 2016 YoungArts Winner is now open at youngarts.org/apply through October 16, 2015.
Several YoungArts alumni—renowned contemporary artist Daniel Arsham; five-time Grammy Award–winning trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard; two-time Emmy Award-winning actress Anna Gunn; choreographer, répétiteur and former New York City Ballet principal dancer Philip Neal; Tony Award-nominated Broadway performer Desmond Richardson; pianist and composer Conrad Tao; So You Think You Can Dance Season 11 winner Ricky Ubeda; Emmy and Golden Globe Award-nominated actress Kerry Washington; and RCA Records award-winning singer/songwriter and Grammy Award-nominated artist Chris Young—have joined YoungArts in its efforts to support emerging artists from around the nation by taking part in this year’s application campaign.
YoungArts Winners have the chance to work with renowned mentors, such as Marina Abramović, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Plácido Domingo, Frank Gehry, Jeff Koons, Wynton Marsalis, Robert Redford, Rebecca Walker and Bruce Weber; receive cash awards of up to $10,000 (YoungArts has bestowed more than $12 million in monetary awards to date); gain access to significant scholarships (YoungArts has facilitated in excess of $60 million in scholarship opportunities in the past two years); be recognized as a U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts (YoungArts is the exclusive nominating agency for this high honor for artistically-talented graduating high school seniors); and perform and exhibit their work at some of the nation’s leading cultural institutions, including the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (Washington, D.C.), MoMA (New York) and New World Center (Miami). YoungArts Winners also become part of the YoungArts alumni network of 20,000-plus artists, many of whom have gone on to become leading professionals in their fields.
WHEN:
Applications will be accepted from April 21 through October 16, 2015
WHO:
Young artists between the ages of 15 and 18 or in high school grades 10-12 (as of December 1, 2015) across the nation are encouraged to apply.
A complete list of last year’s Winners is available here: 2015 YoungArts Winners.
HOW TO APPLY:
Artists can apply online at: http://www.youngarts.org/apply.
Applicants will choose from the following YoungArts disciplines and subcategories:
Cinematic Arts
Dance: Ballet, Choreography, Hip Hop, Jazz, Modern, Tap and World Dance (various forms)
Design Arts
Jazz: Composition and Instrumental (various)
Music: Composition and Instrumental (various)
Photography
Theater
Visual Arts
Voice: Classical, Jazz, Popular and Singer/Songwriter
Writing: Creative Non-Fiction, Novel, Play or Script, Poetry, Short Story and Spoken Word
This year, YoungArts is launching Spoken Word as a category within the Writing discipline. As with all other Writing genres and YoungArts disciplines, the artists selected as YoungArts Winners in this category will benefit from life-changing opportunities at critical junctures throughout their careers.
ELIGIBILITY
To be eligible for recognition by YoungArts, applicants must be between the ages of 15 and 18 or in high school grades 10-12 (as of December 1, 2015); either a United States citizen, a permanent resident or an international student studying on a student visa; and must demonstrate excellence in the visual, literary, design or performing arts.
All applicants have the choice to be added to the YoungArts Student List Service (SLS), a subscription service that provides college, university and conservatory admissions representatives with links to students’ audition portfolios, providing them with important information about the students’ artistic achievements.
If students have any questions, they can reach YoungArts programming staff at (305) 377-1140 or apply@youngarts.org.
SELECTION PROCESS
YoungArts Winners are selected annually through a blind adjudication process and are recognized in one of the following categories: Finalist, Honorable Mention, and Merit. Finalists are eligible to participate in National YoungArts Week in Miami in January 2016, and all Winners are eligible to participate in one of YoungArts’ regional programs—YoungArts Miami, YoungArts Los Angeles and YoungArts New York— space permitting. In addition, Finalists and Honorable Mention Winners receive monetary recognition from YoungArts.
ABOUT THE NATIONAL YOUNGARTS FOUNDATION
The National YoungArts Foundation (YoungArts) was established in 1981 by Lin and Ted Arison to identify and support the next generation of artists in the visual, literary, design and performing arts; assist them at critical junctures in their educational and professional development; and raise appreciation for the arts in American society. Each year, there are approximately 11,000 applications to YoungArts from 15-18 year old (or grades 10-12) artists, and from these, approximately 800 winners are selected.
YoungArts provides these emerging artists with life-changing experiences and validation by renowned mentors, access to significant scholarships, national recognition and other opportunities at critical junctures throughout their careers to help ensure that the nation’s most outstanding emerging artists are encouraged to pursue careers in the arts. To date, YoungArts has honored more than 20,000 alumni, including Doug Aitken, Josh Groban, Jenji Kohan, Desmond Richardson and Kerry Washington, with over $12 million in monetary awards; facilitated in excess of $60 million in college scholarship opportunities in the past two years; and enabled its participants to work with master teachers who are among the most distinguished artists in the world, such as Marina Abramović, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Plácido Domingo, Zaha Hadid, Jeff Koons, Robert Redford and Bruce Weber.
YoungArts is working with world-renowned architect and YoungArts Artistic Advisor Frank Gehry to transform the former Bacardi Tower and Museum buildings and three-and-a-half acre campus into its national headquarters, which will support expanded local activities in Miami and across the country. The new campus will feature a Gehry-designed performing arts center and park with state-of-the-art sound and video capabilities. Since opening the campus for programming in November 2013, YoungArts has held salons sponsored by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation with Marina Abramović, Robert Redford, Justin Peck & Sufjan Stevens, Joshua Bell, Ben Folds and Lil Buck; hosted Olafur Eliasson and his Little Sun installation in partnership with MoMA PS1 and Fondation Beyeler; launched a Residency in Visual Arts supported by The Related Group; held master classes for local music students with jazz icon Wynton Marsalis and opera star Plácido Domingo; produced an interdisciplinary performance on the campus with Robert Redford and Sibylle Szaggars Redford, Living Colour’s Will Calhoun, and YoungArts alumni Dave Eggar and Desmond Richardson; premiered HBO’s Joshua Bell: A YoungArts MasterClass; and hosted a concert series in partnership with III Points presents featuring FKA twigs, James Blake and SBTRKT.
Carnival Foundation is the YoungArts National Premier Sponsor.
For more information, visit youngarts.org, facebook.com/YoungArtsFoundation or twitter.com/YoungArts. To watch a brief video about YoungArts, click here.
