YoungArts

National YoungArts Foundation (YoungArts) was established in 1981 by Lin and Ted Arison. YoungArts identifies the most accomplished young artists in the visual, literary and performing arts, and provides them with creative and professional development opportunities throughout their careers.

Entrance into this prestigious organization starts with a highly competitive application process for talented artists ages 15–18, or grades 10–12, in the United States, that is judged by esteemed discipline specific panels of artists through a rigorous blind adjudication process. In their first year, YoungArts award winners, who represent the top 10% of applicants, receive valuable financial awards of up to $10,000; presentation opportunities at renowned institutions; and the chance to learn from notable artists and mentors such as Debbie Allen, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Frank Gehry, Wynton Marsalis, Salman Rushdie and Mickalene Thomas in intimate settings.

YoungArts award winners are further eligible for exclusive opportunities including: nomination as a U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts, one of the nation’s highest honors for high school students; a wide range of fellowships, residencies and awards; presentation opportunities at major venues nationwide; additional financial support; and access to YoungArts Post, a free private digital network for YoungArts artists to connect, collaborate and learn about additional opportunities. YoungArts alumni include accomplished leaders in their fields such as Timothée Chalamet, Daniel Arsham, Terence Blanchard, Camille A. Brown, Viola Davis, Allegra Goodman, Josh Groban, Kerry Washington, Billy Porter, Anna Gunn, Sam Lipsyte, Chris Young, Neal Dodson, Tarell Alvin McCraney, Andrew Rannells, Desmond Richardson and Hunter Schafer.

Core Programs

National YoungArts Week - Approximately 170 Finalists are invited to participate in National YoungArts Week, the organization’s signature program held annually in Miami that aims to foster cross-disciplinary collaboration and community while offering Finalists the guidance needed to prepare for the next stage of their artistic development. During the intensive, weeklong and all-inclusive program, artists across 10 disciplines participate in master classes and workshops with internationally recognized leaders in their fields. Throughout the week, their work is further adjudicated for financial awards of up to $10,000. Finalists are also eligible for nomination as U.S. Presidential Scholars in the Arts.

YoungArts Regional Programs - Modeled after National YoungArts Week, regional programs offer life-changing experiences, guidance and support to winners nationwide through interdisciplinary workshops, seminars and master classes with renowned leaders in their fields. Regional programs are open to winners from all award levels—Finalist, Honorable Mention and Merit—and take place in Miami, Los Angeles and New York, with opportunities to engage with local audiences in their communities.

U.S. Presidential Scholars in the Arts - Each year, the White House Commission on Presidential Scholars selects 20 YoungArts winners as U.S. Presidential Scholars in the Arts, one of the nation’s highest honors for high school students who exemplify academic and artistic excellence.

In June, these 20 Arts Scholars join the other 141 U.S. Presidential Scholars from across the country in Washington, D.C. for the National Recognition Program. During the program, all Scholars receive a Presidential Medallion presented on behalf of the President of the United States, and participate in several recognition activities. The U.S. Presidential Scholars in the Arts present their work at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts through a special exhibition and performance.

YoungArts Disciplines

The YoungArts application consists of ten disciplines across the visual, literary and performing arts:

• Classical Music – composition and instrumental
• Dance – ballet, choreography, hip hop, jazz, modern, tap, and world dance forms
• Design Arts - architecture, interior, product, graphic, fashion and theater design
• Film – narrative, documentary, experimental, and animation
• Jazz – composers and instrumentalists
• Photography
• Theater – musical, classical and contemporary spoken theater
• Visual Arts
• Voice – classical, jazz, popular and singer/songwriter
• Writing – creative non-fiction, novel, play or script, poetry, short story, spoken word

Alumni Opportunities

Every YoungArts winner becomes a part of the ever-growing YoungArts alumni community, an artistic family of more than 20,000 alumni. YoungArts increasingly makes open calls to alumni to provide fair opportunities and inclusion in its programming and events. Critical creative and professional development opportunities are accessed through YoungArts Post, an online portal designed for YoungArts alumni to connect, create and collaborate throughout their careers. Microgrants and artist residencies are among the many programs that empower alumni to pursue a life in the arts.

YoungArts Campus

YoungArts acquired the landmark Bacardi Tower and Museum buildings in Miami, Florida in 2012 and has since converted the buildings into the YoungArts Campus—the organization’s national headquarters. Located on the corner of Biscayne Boulevard and NE 21st Street—at the nexus of the Wynwood Arts District and Edgewater—the campus supports expanded programming in Miami and across the country.

The landmark buildings were granted a historic designation by the City of Miami Preservation Board in October 2009 and were listed on the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places in 2018. YoungArts welcomes the public to tour the campus and learn more about the unique architectural, historical and cultural significance of the buildings, and its adaptive reuse as a place for artists from around the world to create, develop and present their work.

Other programs and activities

Several documentaries have been produced highlighting this unique program and its extremely talented award recipients. Most notably, Rehearsing a Dream, produced by the Simon and Goodman Picture Company, was nominated for the Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject. A documentary television series entitled YoungArts MasterClass, in which program alumni are teamed with famous mentors, is in its second season on HBO. YoungArts has developed a study guide, based on the HBO series, for high school teachers with Teachers College, Columbia University.

Budget

YoungArts has an endowment of $42 million. Its $6 million annual budget is expected to increase as much as 40 percent as its operating expenses grow.

External Links

• YoungArts Website
• Presidential Scholars Program