All Things Run For The Arts

Students participating in the Run For The Arts. photo courtesy of Jenny Coleman

School has started, Fall is upon us and the weather here in Portland has been magnificent!  I’ve been in Portland for nearly 20 years (yikes!) and this is the best summer weather I’ve ever seen.  Not to jinx things, but when it starts raining, I hope it’s not until November.  And here’s why…

2012 Run For The Arts Final Design

2011 Run For The Arts Winning Design

October is when the Fall Run For The Arts happens at area schools.  The nice thing about doing the run this time of year as opposed to spring (mid-March through April) is the weather; runs don’t get rained out as much, if at all.  The drawback is there is a shorter prep time since school has only been back less than a month, whereas in spring, there’s some breathing room in getting it all set up.

The other Run For The Arts thing that happens is the T-Shirt Design Contest. We got off to a late start this year, so we’ve extended the deadline from it’s usual October 31st to November 30th.  Area schools should be receiving entry forms in the mail this week, addressed to Arts Coordinator.

2010 Run For The Arts Winning Design

2009 Run For The Arts Winning Design

2008 Run For The Arts Winning Design

Once we receive all the submissions for the T-Shirt Design Contest (rules here), we review them, then the entire office has an opportunity to select the ones they like.  We have a Winner, a Second Place, a Third Place and usually an Honorable Mention or two.  The winner gets a $350 prize and the chance to work with a professional Graphic Designer to digitize their design!

2007 Run For The Arts Winning Design

2006 Run For The Arts Winning Design

2005 Run For The Arts Winning Design

The winning artwork will appear on ALL the posters and sponsor sheets for 2013 and, most importantly, their image will appear on the 2013 Run For The Arts T-Shirts!  This is a great experience for the budding artist in your family.

In case you were wondering, all the images in this post are past winners, and no two winners are alike!  If you’re interested in submitting something, here’s more information, and good luck!

The 2012-2013 Run For The Arts

The Emerson School prepares to start their Run For The Arts

It’s late August here in Portland and the weather this summer has been pretty much perfect.  We had a few days of searing temperatures, but now we’re back to the mid-seventies.  Which is good, because school starts up again next week!

In our post from August 23, supplied by the Creative Advocacy Network, we noted Portland’s elementary schools have considerably less arts education than the national average.  In fact, over 12,000 children attend schools with no art, dance, theatre, or music instruction.  Well we, Young Audiences of Oregon & SW Washington, have a program that might help alleviate that situation in your school.  It’s a little something we call Run For The Arts.  In a nutshell, it’s a jog-a-thon schools can host to raises money solely to be used on arts and arts education programs.  It works like this;

• Schools decide when to host their run – Fall 2012 or Spring 2013
• Schools complete and submit the require Letter of Agreement Form  (Fall 2012 / Spring 2013)
• Young Audiences provides the sponsor sheets and posters
• Schools have their students get sponsors
• Students do the jog-a-thon at their school
• The school Run For The Arts Coordinators collect the sponsor sheets and associated funds raised from the students
• Funds are turned into Young Audiences and held in individual school Run For The Arts accounts
• Schools choose arts programs – residencies, workshops, field trips, performances – or arts supplies, and use their run funds to pay for them

It’s that simple.  The Fall 2012 Run happens from October 1, 2012 through November 30, 2012, while the Spring 2013 Run happens from March 11, 2013 through April 30, 2013.  Since the program’s inception way back in 1977, schools have raised a combined $13, 600,000 for the arts.  And this past school year alone, participating schools raised nearly $800,000!

Contact Young Audiences to find out more:  503-225-5900 / email / web