The Artists of the Year for 2024 are (top row from left): Grace Lin, media arts; Viveka Saravanan, vocal music; Jadon Wu, instrumental music; Caroline Kim, fine arts; (bottom row, from left) Sofia Aniceto, dance; Benjamin Weil, film and TV; and McKenzie Cahill, theater. (Photos by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
What does it mean to be an artist?
That question is asked of each high school student being considered for the Artist of the Year honors that spotlight local talent in seven artistic disciplines.
In their answers, they all talk about passion and the drive to inspire others. Through their individual creativity, they want to make a connection, foster understanding, nurture empathy.
They might be misunderstood at times, but as artists they strive to be true to themselves. They have the courage to show their vulnerability.
They care for their communities. They’ve committed their time to nonprofit organizations.
They are storytellers, whether dancers, filmmakers, musicians, thespians, visual artists, or vocalists.
Now it’s time to tell the stories of the seven Orange County high school students named the 2024 Artists of the Year, along with a crop of finalists.
They are each profiled in stories published today in The Orange County Register. They will be honored in person next month at an awards presentation. The top students also get to showcase their talents.
Conceived as a counterpart to the Orange County Register’s recognition of student-athletes who excel in varsity sports, Artist of the Year is in its 11th year. It is open to junior and senior high school students.
The program is co-sponsored by The Register and Chapman University. Artist of the Year benefited again this year from a commitment by Chapman University College of Performing Arts to cover $25,000 in operating expenses.
Other help comes from UC Irvine’s Claire Trevor School of the Arts to provide awards to the top students.
The first decade of Artist of the Year saw steady increases in students nominated and in the participation of schools and arts organizations.
The pandemic caused a dip in that growth but this year the number of nominees surpassed pre-COVID levels in all categories.
Overall, nominations reached 892 in 2024, up from 113 that first year in 2013: Film and TV had 60 nominees; Media Arts, 85; Vocal Music, 98; Dance, 101; Instrumental Music, 138; Fine Arts, 177; and Theater, 233.
Teachers from local high schools, private instructors, and arts organizations — 272 in all this year from 85 entities — make the nominations. A group of semifinalists are then given 15 minutes each to show their artistry and answer questions from a panel of judges tailored to each discipline.
The judges are college and high school instructors, working professionals, and leaders from Orange County’s arts institutions.
Each year, there is a refinement to the monthslong Artist of the Year process. For 2024, in addition to making it easier for teachers to nominate students, divisions were introduced.
Students were designated Division 1 or Division 2, depending on years of training that varied among the disciplines. At least two Division 2 students were included as semifinalists in each discipline and one as a finalist.
Artist of the Year producer Heide Janssen explained the goal: “We were hoping to see more students represented that are new on their journey but are showing promise as an artist.”
Of the students who completed their applications, 586 were Division 1 and 102 were Division 2, Janssen said.
More than numbers tell the tale of growth in stature.
Consider what one excited dancer told Janssen out in the hallway while waiting to perform for the panel of judges that would choose the top artist from the semifinalist candidates.
She said that when she started at Orange County School of the Arts back in seventh grade, she’d seen the photos of her school’s Artists of the Year on the wall and made it one of her goals to be a contender.
“I thought that was great,” Janssen said, “because for so many years a lot of students have said I never knew about this program until I was nominated.”
A display of Artist of the Year photos means a school is celebrating the honor, Janssen added.
“So, it’s something for the student to strive for. That’s what you want. Now they know and they are looking forward to it.”
Of the semifinalists, 13 were repeat performers.
The judges who have come back year after year to select the Artists of the Year also said they look forward to it.
The rise in the number of participants and in the level of talent on display impressed them. “I can’t believe how many students there are this year,” said Judy Scialpi, a dance teacher at Northwood High in Irvine who helped conceive and shape the Artist of the Year program and serves as a judge for dance.
The public gets a chance to see what the judges saw at the awards ceremony, 5:30 p.m., May 8, in Memorial Hall at Chapman University, 1 University Drive, Orange. Attendance is free.
