Adirondack Trust Company Festival of Young Artist to return virtually
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. » Saratoga Performing Arts Center announced that The Adirondack Trust Company Festival of Young Artists will return as a virtual gallery space for its third annual celebration spotlighting the collaborative creativity of more than 400 of the Capital Region’s young dancers, musicians, singers, poets and visual artists.
The festival’s mission is to showcase the work of the students involved in the 2020 festival, which was originally scheduled for May 31 on the SPAC grounds and was canceled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We have completely re-imagined our signature education festival by creating an engaging, experiential online gallery that is dedicated to the region’s aspiring artists, poets, dancers, and musicians. Not only will the site feature the incredible artistry of our area youth this summer, but it will continue to serve as a virtual artistic home all year long,” SPAC President and CEO Elizabeth Sobol said in a press release, thanking The Adirondack Trust Company and all of the local youth organizations and school districts who have made this year’s festival possible.
“We are proud to continue our support of the Saratoga Performing Arts Center’s Festival of Young Artists,” Adirondack Trust Company President and CEO Charles V. Wait, Jr. said in the release. “While in the past, this has been an allencompassing, sensory in-person experience, we’re excited to
see how SPAC has remained agile and has been able to bring that very same experience into your own home. These talented young individuals give us hope that the next generation will continue this area’s legacy of celebrating creativity in all forms.
The online gallery will feature a curated collection of student creations in visual art, literary art, and the performing arts from middle school and high school students hailing from Albany, Essex, Fulton, Hamilton, Montgomery, Saratoga, Schenectady, Schoharie, Rensselaer, Warren, and Washington Counties.
In addition to collaborations with the Empire State Youth Orchestra, Northeast Ballet Company, Capital District Youth Chorale, and School of the Arts at the National Museum of Dance, new festival partners for 2020 include Capital District Youth Pipe Band, Schenectady High School Dance Department, Shenendehowa High School Jazz Ensemble and WSWHE BOCES.
The youth organizations have all joined in support of SPAC’s mission to provide free access to enriching arts programs for local students.
“When the pandemic began in March, many of the students and organizations involved in the 2020 festival were already well underway with rehearsals, creations, and other preparations,” SPAC’s Senior Director of Education Dennis Moench said in the release. “In order to celebrate their hard work, and also create an ongoing opportunity for all young artists in our area to continue to be seen and heard during this time when all large gatherings are prohibited, we decided to build this virtual platform dedicated solely to their visions and achievements.
“We hope that this online gallery space will help young artists feel proud of their creations and feel inspired to continue creating art.”
Kicking off the new experiential website, the first virtual exhibit titled “SelfPortrait” explores the ways in which artists choose to express themselves and how they are influenced by their own identities.
The Online Gallery will continue beyond this summer as an ongoing platform for student artists in the region to share their artistic visions and achievements and to inspire and enrich their peers and the community - especially during this time when live student art shows, poetry slams, concerts, recitals, and performances aren’t possible.
In September, SPAC will begin accepting new submissions on spacfoya.org from students as well as youth ensembles from local schools and organizations in the forms of visual art, literary art, and the performing arts for the next FOYA Online Gallery exhibition, launching in February 2021.
A commemorative t-shirt for the 2020 festival featuring Pallavi Datta’s winning artwork “Self-Portrait” is available to purchase on bonfire.com.
The Adirondack Trust Festival of Young Artists Online Gallery is free to experience; visit spacfoya.org or spac.org for details.