YoungArts, formerly known as National YoungArts Foundation, announces its upcoming 40th Anniversary year today by rolling out a new look, launching a new website, and officially shortening its name to YoungArts. Working in partnership with Paula Scher and her team at Pentagram, the new bold and contemporary visual identity captures the spirit of YoungArts and its mission to identify, cultivate and support artists. The new brand identity launches today on the redesigned youngarts.org, where the YoungArts competition for the next generation of artists will open on June 22, 2021.
“We are excited to share the new creative identity that Paula Scher and the team at Pentagram have helped develop for YoungArts,” said Executive Director Jewel Malone. “Anniversaries are occasions to reflect, celebrate and most importantly commit to the future. As YoungArts looks back at our first 40 years, we see the extraordinary artists we are proud to call YoungArts award winners and opportunities to do more for each and every one. The past year has brought into focus how important, and yet how economically vulnerable, artists are in the U.S., and we are working to ensure that all award winners can continue to rely on us for support and opportunities to advance their careers.”
Immediately identifiable, the new YoungArts logo is held by a set of brackets, a graphic motif that conveys what is special about the foundation––that it identifies a select group of emerging artists, brings them into a diverse and dynamic community, and stays with them as a support system throughout their artistic lives. The wordmark is set in Degular, a strong, high-contrast typeface with letterforms that structurally echo the curved brackets. The framework can be easily extended to various programs and initiatives, making them instantaneously recognizable as part of YoungArts.
“The identity reflects the unique nurturing aspect of YoungArts. The symbol of the brackets instantly conveys the organization’s role as a support system for artists. It was the happiest of all possible solutions––both recognizable and meaningful at the same time,” says Paula Scher. “It positions YoungArts as being pivotal in building the foundations of an artist and their lifelong career––unlike any other arts foundation.”
YoungArts award winners, accomplished artists across the visual, literary and performing arts, are identified when they are 15–18 years old (or in grades 10–12) through a national arts competition. The 2022 competition will open on June 22, 2021. Applications are reviewed by esteemed discipline-specific panels of artists through a rigorous blind adjudication process. Artists are awarded in three levels—Finalist, Honorable Mention and Merit—based on their caliber of artistic achievement. Upon being named a YoungArts award winner, artists will have access to creative and professional development support throughout their careers. YoungArts is the sole path to becoming a U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts. For more information and eligibility requirements please click here.
The organization’s signature program, National YoungArts Week will be held in Miami in January of 2022 and will welcome 2022 YoungArts award winners at the Finalist level from across the country for an all-expenses-paid weeklong intensive and opportunities for audiences to meet the next generation of artists.
Additional information about the anniversary season will be announced at a later date.
