The Fine Arts Center for the New River Valley recently wrapped up an art exhibit focused on the youth in our area. Most of this art was created by students of high school age, and every bit of it was amazing. The students were honored at an awards ceremony last week, with the top pieces going on to compete at a higher level in New York. But the celebration of youth art doesn’t end there; there are thousands of kids still in grade school who are beginning their journey as an artist, and some of those kids are right here in Pulaski.
That’s why March is Youth Art Month. The Council for Art Education administers Youth Art Month every year, providing younger children a medium for problem solving, creativity, observation and communication. Youth Art Month began back in 1961 with a multitude of goals, including expanding art programs in schools, increasing overall support for art education in more communities, and encouraging commitment to the arts by students, community organizations, and people everywhere.
Factor those goals in for the community of Pulaski, and you can see why this month is so important for keeping the arts alive and well in our younger generations. The Fine Arts Center for the New River Valley is the primary champion of this cause, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have a role in things as well. Whether you have a child who is interested in art themselves or not, it’s in our best interests to support programs like this as much as we can. Art is one of the driving factors in a community’s growth, and Pulaski is no different; if we want to attract more people and businesses to our town, one of the best things we can do is support the arts.
The Youth Art Month exhibit should be fully sometime near the end of this week, so if you’d like to take a tour of our area’s talented young artists you should stop by soon. Some of the art from their Scholastic Art Awards exhibit will be present here as well, but a large portion of the art will be new material from grade school children.