New York, NY – September 16, 2016 – The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, the nation’s longest-running and most prestigious recognition initiative for creative teens, kicks off the annual Art.Write.Now exhibitions program including the year-long Art.Write.Now.DC 2016–17 exhibit at the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, D.C., and the nationwide traveling Art.Write.Now.Tour. 2016–17. Both exhibits will showcase select art and writing created by teens who received national recognition in the 2016 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. To learn more, visit artandwriting.org/student-showcase/

EXHIBITION DATES

Art.Write.Now. will be on display at these locations

• Art.Write.Now.DC 2016–17:
• Washington, D.C., U.S. Department of Education, September 16, 2016– Summer 2017

• Art.Write.Now.Tour 2016–17:
• Grand Rapids, MI, Kendall College Of Art & Design, September 20, 2016–October 14, 2016
• Houston, TX, Museum Of Fine Arts, Houston, November 1, 2016–January 8, 2017
• Bozeman, MT, Emerson Center For The Arts & Culture, February 10–March 17, 2017
• Jackson, MS, Mississippi Museum of Art, April 1–May 14, 2017

Now in its seventh year, the Art.Write.Now.Tour is celebrated as the most modern and relevant expression of creative work by today’s young artists. Curated, produced, and presented by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, the Tour showcases a selection of inspiring and innovative works submitted to the 2016 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards by teens from across the country.

“This selection of teen work is truly remarkable,” said Virginia McEnerney, Executive Director of the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers. “The visual art and the written pieces delve into themes ranging from the most intimate of human emotions to the current political climate. It’s a privilege to glance into the minds of some of our country’s most talented teens and an honor to have their work on display nationwide in our traveling Tour and in the DC exhibit.”

Art.Write.Now.DC 2016–17 was created in partnership with the U.S. Department of Education and the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. Art.Write.Now.DC will be on display beginning September 16, 2016. The exhibitions feature a selection of works from the 2016 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.

Art.Write.Now.Tour 2016–17 has been made possible, in part, by generous support from Scholastic Inc., Blick Art Materials & Utrecht Art Supplies, and the National Endowment for the Arts. The Tour is guest curated by Johanna Burton, Keith Haring Director and Curator of Education and Public Engagement at the New Museum in New York City. The Tour will feature approximately 50 visual art works selected from the Art.Write.Now.2016 National Exhibition which took place in New York City at Parsons School of Design and the Pratt Institute this past June, as well as The Best Teen Writing of 2016, an annual anthology of selected Gold Medal writing, which will be displayed at the exhibitions on iPads.

ABOUT THE SCHOLASTIC ART & WRITING AWARDS:
For 93 years, the Awards, presented by the nonprofit Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, have identified the early promise of some of our nation’s most accomplished visionaries and encouraged young artists and writers to pursue a variety of creative career paths and endeavors. In the 2016 program year, a record-breaking 320,000 works were submitted for adjudication at the regional level, with more than 2,500 public, private, and home schooled students receiving national recognition. Each year, exhibition, publication, and scholarship opportunities are made available to students honored through the program for their creative work in 29 categories, with opportunities expanding each year. artandwriting.org.