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YoungArts

American high school scholarship program

American high school scholarship program

YoungArts (previously National YoungArts Foundation and National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts, or NFAA) is an American charity established in 1981 by Lin and Ted Arison to help nurture emerging high-school artists. The foundation is based in Miami, Florida. In 1981, Ted Arison gave $5 million to launch the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts.

YoungArts is noted as the most difficult and most prestigious literary, performing, and visual arts competition for high school students. If selected, it is an incredible testament to prodigious talent in the field. Approximately 6% are selected as Winners, with the top 1% selected as Winners with Distinction. Winners with Distinction are invited to compete for the Lin Arison Excellence in Writing Award (a $50,000 writing scholarship, only for writing winners), cash prizes of up to $10,000, and more. They are invited to National YoungArts Week, an all-expenses-paid experience in Miami, Florida.

YoungArts nominates up to 60 candidates for consideration as U.S. Presidential Scholars in the Arts following participation in YoungArts week.

YoungArts disciplines

The YoungArts application consists of the following ten disciplines across the visual, literary, design 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 - paintings, portraits, landscapes, artworks, drawings, murals, artistic inventions and art projects
  • Voice – classical, jazz, popular and singer/songwriter
  • Writing – creative non-fiction, novel, play or script, poetry, short story, spoken word

Other programs and activities

Several documentaries have been produced highlighting this unique program and its 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.

2026 Winners with Distinction

These are the ~170 Winners with Distinction selected from over 13,000 applicants in the 2025-2026 cycle.

Classical Music Starla Breshears, Valery Breshears, Beckett Ceron, Ellie Choi, Dana Chung, Santiago Del Curto, Anwen Deng, David Gatien, Ethan Hsu, Khaos Kook, Raymond kwon, Charles Lee, Irene Lee, Madison Lee, Ian Lin, Samuel Lu, Sonya Moomaw, Sunjoo Lucas Park, Daniel Qi, Taige Wang, Yoyo Wu, Kyle Yeung, Grace Yon, Stephen Zhang

Dance Logan Joshua Asuncion, Aaron Chang, Jocelyn Cramer, Nandita Dani, Angelina Elliott, Sam Evans, Sriyuktha Ganipineni, Richie Granese, Jasmyn Gulley, Cameron Kennedy, Saanvi Kondoju, Jordan Lassiter, Yun Xin Lin, Cole Lovelady, Alicia Niwa, Eiana Nova, Jordyn Sarmoen, Payton Stowe, Kiera Sun, Cameron Voorhees, Emanuel Wood, Lekha Wood, Kylan Wright

Design Cici Zhu, Isabella Cho, Kayleen Cho, Minjun Sean Choi, Nathan Chong, Ryan Chou, Emma Grasso, Mary Hong, Kayla Gyujin Kim, Madeline Lee, Subin Park, Marcel Rosas

Film Jaxon Zepel, Auset Adams, Tullan Advincula Portock, Isa Bella Althea, Eze Baum, Violet Chin, Kiyomi DallasKidd, Ben DeLaney, Orson Ford, Mariella Gutierrez, Hudson Hillin, Sabrina Simek

Jazz Matthew Cruz, Jacob Hart, Miri Izenberg, Jazz Johnson, Sofi Longa, Jeremiah Price, Saoirse Sipes, Ryan Smith

Photography Jasmine Arreola, Christopher Barker, Isabel Bhatia, Wonwoo Do, Cesar Florencio Cortes, Anise Kim, Ingrid Knap, Marilyn Elisabeth Leal, Julianne Ounsombath, Jericca Taste

Theater Audrey Chang, Keilah Clarke, Chase Klein, Mehret Laskey, Nyla Nevaeh, Liam Niznik, Josh Prabhakar, Elijah Primas, Jai'Den Pritchett, Giselle Register, Wendell Remy, Ava Rivera, Jack Ryan, Manav Tokala, Hosannah Wellman, Cendall Williams, Natalie Winstead, Maddox Wood

Visual Arts Nate Barcott, Syanne Blades, Zack Cheuk, Edeline Chung, Sachi Clay, Alejandro Cohen, Lauren Dong, Keara Gabriel, Xinyao Sara Huang, Willa Jaymes, Harper Johnson, Kameirah Johnson, Jane Liou, Ken Longmore, Edie Murawski, Mara Popa, Keshav Subash, Jordyn Williams, Sophia Ye, Jessica Zheng

Voice Danielle Angrad, Eva Capron, Myles Cherette, Elyana Coriano, Isabella D'Oriano, Elina Ghosh, Jane Hasty, Vibha Krishna, Casey Kuma, Tobi LaCroix, Clare Lee, Gabriel Magallón, Oni Marsalis, Rose Morris, Naima Nascimento, Bhavika Pasuparthi, Lark Perry, Maya Russell, Kai Sanchez-Warner, Casey Schopflocher, Amelia Siller, Sydney Thomas

Writing Kaitlyn Bai, Niamh Carmichael, Avi Coe-Sullivan, Beatrice Fink, Tristyn Gibson, Yupang Hanna Han, Lasya Hota, Anuj Jain, Collin Kim, Everette Lang, Giljoon lee, Anika Mangla, Hayden Park, Dev Rai, Yossi Eun-Chong Rosen, Ashley Shim, Kurn Sundaram, Leah Weiser, Emma Yeon

Notable alumni

  • Doug Aitken
  • Abigail Barlow
  • Matt Bomer
  • Timothée Chalamet
  • Jessica Darrow
  • Viola Davis
  • Neal Dodson
  • Kimiko Glenn
  • Amanda Gorman
  • Anna Gunn
  • Sam Lipsyte
  • Ryan McCartan
  • Nicki Minaj
  • King Princess
  • Billy Porter
  • Andrew Rannells
  • Ben Levi Ross
  • Max Schneider
  • Hunter Schaefer
  • Justice Smith
  • Kerry Washington
  • Chris Young

Alumni opportunities

Every YoungArts winner becomes a part of the YoungArts alumni community, an artistic family of more than 20,000 alumni. YoungArts makes open calls to alumni to provide opportunities and inclusion in its programming and events.

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.

References

References

  1. "Higher paying Jobs in Australia".
  2. (September 10, 2015). "Roots of Miami's vibrant arts scene were planted in the 1980s". Miami Herald.
  3. "Classical Music". YoungArts.
  4. "Dance". YoungArts.
  5. "Design". YoungArts.
  6. "Cinematic Arts". YoungArts.
  7. "Jazz". YoungArts.
  8. "Photography". YoungArts.
  9. "Theater". YoungArts.
  10. "Visual Arts". YoungArts.
  11. "Voice". YoungArts.
  12. "Writing". YoungArts.
  13. Robin Pogrebin (October 2, 2012), [https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/03/arts/design/national-youngarts-to-take-over-bacardi-complex-in-miami.html Gehry to Turn Bacardi Complex Into Arts Campus] ''[[New York Times]]''.
  14. YoungArts. (2016-01-21). "Abigail Barlow {{!}} Popular Voice {{!}} 2016 National YoungArts Week".
  15. "Youngarts Winners 2016".
  16. YoungArts. (2015-05-06). "Mikaela Straus {{!}} Mikaela Rock Song {{!}} 2015 YoungArts New York".
  17. YoungArts. (2022-10-04). "Hunter Schafer Design Arts Showcase {{!}} 2017 National YoungArts Week".
  18. (April 8, 2016). "YoungArts Steps Into the Spotlight". Wall Street Journal.
  19. (January 14, 2019). "L.A. Artist Duo Haas Brothers Honored by Miami's YoungArts Foundation". Hollywood Reporter.
  20. (April 21, 2017). "Salman Rushdie, Debbie Allen, and Christian Slater Spend a Night at the Museum". Vogue.
  21. "Our Community of Literary, Visual + Performing Artists".
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