SPAC Announces Call for Submissions for “FOYA 2021 Outstanding Artist” Awards

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) announced that its Student Artist Submission Portal for The 2021 Adirondack Trust Company Festival of Young Artists (FOYA) online gallery is now open at spacfoya.org. 

For the first time, SPAC is awarding one student in each of the three categories – Visual Art, Literary Art, and the Performing Arts – with the distinction “FOYA 2021 Outstanding Artist.”  Each of the three artists selected will receive a $500 Award to support the further development of their craft. Submissions for the Festival, which is themed Metamorphosis, will also be accepted in visual art, literary art, and the performing arts. The deadline for all submissions is Feb. 1. 

The Adirondack Trust Company Festival of Young Artists is an annual event held at Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) presenting student art shows, poetry slams, and live performances featuring hundreds of young dancers, singers, actors, and musicians. In the spring of 2020, an online gallery space was created to celebrate the work of the students involved in the 2020 festival, which was cancelled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In March 2021 the online gallery www.spacfoya.org will re-launch to showcase a new exhibit called Metamorphosis, showcasing all of the accepted student submissions for the 2021 Festival. In the event that SPAC is able to host a live festival event in the spring of 2021, all students with accepted submissions will be notified in late-March 2021 to make arrangements to showcase their work at SPAC in late spring.

Each of the three artists selected will receive $500 to support the further development of their craft. 

Students considered for a FOYA 2021 Outstanding Artist Award must meet the following criteria:

• Student must be enrolled in grades 9-12
• Students must live in or be part of an organization or school located in one the following NY counties: Albany, Essex, Fulton, Hamilton, Montgomery, Saratoga, Schenectady, Schoharie, Rensselaer, Warren, Washington
• Student’s submitted work should ideally adhere to the Festival theme of “Metamorphosis.” Definition: A change of the form or nature of a thing or person into a completely different one, by natural or supernatural means.

Works inspired by the Festival theme are strongly encouraged. However, it is not mandatory to adhere to the festival’s theme in order to be considered for inclusion in the exhibit. All submissions are welcome!

PLEASE NOTE: In accordance with the Dignity for All Students Act, any works of art that are deemed discriminatory, derogatory, intimidating, violent, harassing, taunting and/or bullying will not be accepted into this festival.

All Artists will be notified by email whether their submission was or was not accepted by March 1, 2021. For more information, contact the SPAC Education team at education@spac.org.