Hold the humanities alive in South Central Kentucky: The 2024 Scholastic Artwork & Writing Awards At The Downing Museum

This yr marks the one centesimal anniversary of the Scholastic Artwork & Writing Awards! I can not let you know how a lot this program has meant to so many younger proficient artists in our area. Internet hosting the awards for the final two years, after an extended hiatus from not being out there to our area, has had a profound impression the younger artists from our neighborhood who’ve participated. The 2023 exhibition will probably be on the Downing Museum April Twenty fifth-Could twenty seventh.

After the pandemic, I might see that our youngsters wanted a wholesome and productive outlet to voice their feelings, so why not deliver again the Scholastic Artwork & Writing Awards to present college students an opportunity for expression. The work I’ve seen come from these extraordinarily clever and proficient youngsters these final two years has been a few of the most profound work I’ve ever seen. The work was tragic, chaotic, lovely, triumphant, liberating, and significant. All youngsters, however particularly this group resulting from limitations the pandemic created, deserve the popularity and alternative that arts and humanities deliver. Most notably, the Scholastic Artwork & Writing Awards.

You may be asking, “Why is that this program so necessary?” “Isn’t displaying artwork only for the sake of getting lovely work to have a look at?” “How might this presumably make a distinction in our neighborhood?”

From the skin, it’s simple for some to put in writing off arts & humanities as one thing frivolous, merely creating fairly issues to hold on a wall. Oh, however how fallacious they’re.

Exposing youngsters at a younger age to the humanities is crucial to creating self-awareness. They’re able to discover and categorical their emotions in a wholesome and productive means. They’re additionally capable of finding themselves by way of the act of artmaking.

Based on Claudia C. Mincemoyer, Ph.D., Director of Higher Child Care Program at Penn State (2016), she explains that youngsters learn to plan, downside remedy and assume critically when they’re working with artwork supplies. Primarily, they’re exploring and studying in regards to the world round them. Artmaking and inventive work can provide youngsters the prospect to make knowledgeable selections. Now apply that by way of the course of a kid’s creating years into maturity.

Not solely do the humanities play a key function within the total well being and improvement of an individual, however in keeping with artincontext.org (2022), it serves as a bridge to attach completely different cultures, races, religions, and languages. It could categorical frequent morals, values, and permits us to turn out to be extra empathetic and find out how to relate to 1 one other as human beings. After we permit artwork to turn out to be a vessel of communication and a mode of connection, we permit for an total more healthy and extra productive neighborhood!

Our inventive neighborhood wants the Scholastic Artwork & Writing Awards to endure. Our kids want this program to proceed. This program gives extra than simply nationwide recognition. It paves the way in which for his or her future careers and desires. Scholastic gives scholarship alternatives such because the Portfolio Scholarship, offering highschool seniors with as much as $12,500 for faculty tuition. And The Herblock Award for Editorial Cartoons, awarding as much as $1,000 in prizes. Nevertheless it doesn’t cease there. They’ve alternatives for educators in residency applications, and possibilities for touring exhibitions in Washington D.C.

For this program to endure, that is the place YOU could make a distinction. We’ve opened this program to sponsors for the 2024 Scholastic Artwork & Writing Awards for South Central Kentucky. With out the assist of our neighborhood, the Downing Museum will not be capable to host this thrilling and invigorating program subsequent yr. If you need to take the time to turn out to be a sponsor, whether or not individually or your corporation, please attain out to us. As a 501(c)(3) charitable group, your reward is totally tax-deductible. Your assist for native and regional artwork issues to our youngsters and our rising neighborhood, and for that, we thanks.