Students from throughout Monmouth County took part in the Teen Arts Festival, held March 21-22 on the campus of Brookdale Community College in Lincroft. Administered by the Monmouth County Arts Council, this year’s festival included “ArtHelps,” an initiative to connect the arts with the post-Sandy recovery effort.
“This year’s festival was especially poignant because so many schools and students in this area were affected by the storm,” Monmouth Arts Executive Director Mary Eileen Fouratt said in a press release. “We were looking to offer a creative outlet for expression to give students a place to express their viewpoint.”
Nearly 2,000 teens attend each year, representing middle schools and high schools in Monmouth County, as well as home-schooled students. During the two-day event, more than 30 artists and teachers presented workshops, conducted critique sessions and taught master classes in their individual specialties, including drama, filmmaking, voice, acting, and instrumental music.
Professional artists at the festival provide critical reviews of student work, performances and group presentations. Students and performance groups designated as “superior” at the county level are identified as “Top of the Top” and invited to perform at the annual Monmouth Arts Education Awards.
The festival includes a juried art show. This year’s theme, “Double Vision,” gave art students an opportunity to have their work professionally hung and displayed in Brookdale’s CVA gallery.