Youth Art Month 2021

March 2021

Youth Art Month is a national, month-long celebration of student artists held each year in March, and WMA partners with elementary, middle, and high schools throughout the Wiregrass region to display student artwork in the museum. The exhibition is open to PreK-12 students from public, private, and home schools, and emphasizes the value of art and art education for all children, encouraging public support for quality school art programs.

In conjunction with Youth Art Month , WMA will once again host the 2 nd Congressional Art Competition, open to all high school juniors and seniors in Alabama’s 2 nd Congressional District. The winning piece from Alabama-District 2 will be displayed for one year in the U.S. Capitol alongside artwork from other contest winners nationwide. The 2 nd Congressional Art Competition is an opportunity to recognize and encourage the artistic talent not only in our Congressional district but throughout the nation, as well. All winning pieces from each Congressional district will also be considered for selection as the National Congressional Art Competition winner.

We will also recognize another year of our popular middle- and high-school art challenge, Out of the (Art) Box, but with a complete reimagining of the program for 2021 . There will be no teams competing against each other, but rather one big team working together to create a catalyst for change. A group of 12 area junior high and high school students who believe in art’s ability and power to create a better world will meet together virtually with three professional artist mentors to work alongside a local organization. The students will conceive and create an art-based solution to a problem the chosen organization is trying to address, amplifying the group’s message and encouraging action for their cause. Stay tuned to see what this new iteration of Art Box and these students will accomplish in our community!

WMA’s Out of the (Art) Box program has been made possible in part by a grant from the Alabama State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.