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Education Jan 11, 2024
| Photo courtesy of the Riverside County Office of Education
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To start off 2024 on an artistic note, a “virtual student arts” competition returns for Riverside County students in five different age divisions and four different categories, the Office of Education announced Wednesday.
The Art Connects contest is accepting submissions from elementary and middle school students in the categories of visual art, dance, theater and film.
“During the first weeks and months of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the initial Art Connects virtual competition … helped students channel their creative energy — leading to more than 1,300 original submissions,” according to the Office of Education.
The contest is open to all county students in grades TK-8 who attend public, charter, private, parochial or home school programs, officials said. Age divisions are transitional kindergarten/pre-kindergarten and kindergarten, 1st/2nd Grades, 3rd/4th Grades, 5th/6th Grade and 7th/8th Grades.
The Office of Education provided the following deadlines for submitting projects:
- Visual art — Submissions are now accepted online; Jan. 22 the submission window closes; Jan. 29 winners are announced.
- Dance — The submission window opens Feb. 12.
- Theatre — The submission window opens March 11.
- Film — The submission window opens April 8.
All submission windows open on the first day at 8 a.m. and close on the final day at 5 p.m., officials said.
Elementary and middle school students can submit their art projects for consideration in the contest via links on the Arts Connects webpage, www.rcoe.us/art-connects. Submissions also can be made by parents, guardians or teachers using the Google form on the Riverside County Office of Education Art Connects webpage “once the submission windows open for each category.”
Students can submit up to five entries, and the limit is 10 entries per teacher.
First-, second- and third-place winners receive plaques and have their work showcased on the Office of Education website. Certificates recognize projects that receive multiple honorable-mentions.
For more information on Art Connects or additional arts programs and resources in Riverside County schools, officials said to contact Louisa Higgins, visual and performing arts administrator, at lhiggins@rcoe.us.
