Illinois High School Art Exhibition
February 11th - March 8th
Second Floor Exhibition Space
The best 1,000 student artists from approximately 125+ Illinois high schools will converge to showcase their art and vie for more than $43 million in college scholarships at the 5th annual Illinois High School Art Exhibition (IHSAE). Over 1,000 of the most talented students from 120 High Schools have been selected to showcase artwork at the exhibit and qualified to earn one of the available scholarships. The show runs from Monday, February 11 through Friday, March 8 at the Zhou B Art Center and Bridgeport Art Center in Chicago’s Bridgeport neighborhood.
A Public Opening and Silent Auction Fundraiser will be hosted on Friday, February 15 as the Zhou B Art Center’s monthly Third Friday special event as well as at the Bridgeport Art Center. The Exhibition’s Main Event and Ceremonies are on Sunday, February 24. The Zhou B Art Center will host the General Exhibition, Vendor Symposium, and first ever Live Art Throwdown event. The Bridgeport Art Center will showcase the Senior Scholarship Exhibition, feature 2 ceremonies for both Exhibitions with early college & seniors scholarship announcements & awards presentations, and the college recruitment fair.
The IHSAE includes multiple display venues beyond the Zhou B Art Center, the sole host partner for the first three years, because of its burgeoning success. Some 4,000 students, teachers, college representatives, and school district administrators are expected to attend the state’s largest high school student art exhibition that is also widely considered the gold standard amongst high school student art exhibitions nationwide.
Keynote speaker: Sergio Gomez of NextGen Arts.
“The scholarships will continue a robust IHSAE tradition that has facilitated
$125-million-plus cumulatively for more than 1,000 students since our first event in 2014,” said Chris Sykora, co-creator of IHSAE, which uniquely collaborates with public, private, and charter high schools and more than 40 college art schools nationwide.
“Although art education has been largely eliminated from standard school curriculums due to ever-tightening budgets, a growing number of schools – including the Chicago Public Schools – are undergoing a renaissance focused on extending comprehensive art programs due to the wide-ranging developmental benefits. The IHSAE advocates those extra efforts with exhibitions and other incentives for creative exploration and connection to innovative careers,” Sykora said.
“The Zhou B Art Center is honored to help nurture the world’s future artists by hosting this very special exhibition. Our involvement is consistent with the center’s philosophy to provide a community and environment that supports emerging artists of all ages, walks of life, and countries – including the center’s resident artists -- through collaboration, education, networking, innovative thinking, and exhibitions,” said Michael Zhou, the center’s executive director.
About the IHSAE
The Illinois High School Art Exhibition is a not-for-profit corporation whose mission is the advancement of visual arts education through exhibition. Developed by teachers for students in 2014, the organization is run by full-time art educators who collaborate with corporate sponsors, art schools/colleges/universities, and participating city, suburban, public and private high schools to celebrate and award the artistic talents of Illinois high school art students. The IHSAE cultivates further connections through a variety of community art programs, such as the Art Educator and Central Illinois High School Art Exhibitions, Small Works Show, IHSAE Traveling Show, Capitol Building Art Show, Blick in-store events, presentations for art teachers at venues such as School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the National Art Education Association Conference, school programming support, collaborative connections with Illinois School Boards, Art Educator Grants and more. For more information, go to www.ihsae.org.