The eighth annual Youth Art Month exhibition, hosted by Waterville Creates, will be held March 1-31. Artwork will be on display at the Ticonic Gallery and Railroad Square Cinema. Submitted photo
Waterville Creates is scheduled to host the eighth Youth Art Month exhibition at Ticonic Gallery at 10 Water St. #106 and Railroad Square Cinema at 17 Railroad Square from Tuesday, March 1, through Thursday, March 31.
Established in 1961, the exhibition is a national program designed to celebrate visual art education for grades K-12 with a goal to increase community understanding and interest in art and art education through active participation in exhibitions, workshops, and other creative ventures.
This year’s YAM theme is “Art Connects Us,” according to a news release from the nonprofit.
Sponsored by the Colby College Museum of Art and the City of Waterville, this year’s exhibition will include the work of aspiring youth artists from 19 participating schools. Connecting to this year’s theme, students were asked to create art on hexagonal wood panels in response to the questions “What do you love about where you live?” or “What do you love about your community?”
Designed to be an interactive installation, the exhibition will have panels available for visitors to create their own artistic responses to these questions.
In conjunction with the exhibition, Waterville Creates will launch the Youth Arts Access Fund on March 1. Established under the belief that all youth — regardless of income, ability or background — should have access to outstanding arts programming and arts education opportunities, the fund is designed to support free admission for youth ages 18 and younger to the full range of programming offered by Waterville Creates and its divisions, including art classes and camps, community theatre productions, live music, and film programming.
The launch of the fund also echoes another key goal of the exhibition — to increase community, business, and governmental support for art education.
Waterville Creates is a nonprofit supporting and promoting high-quality, accessible arts and cultural programs in central Maine.
Ticonic Gallery is free and open to the public from noon to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Railroad Square Cinema Lobby is free and open to the public from 2 to 9 p.m. Monday through Sunday. All gallery visitors are required to wear masks.
For more information on the exhibition and fund, visit watervillecreates.org.
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