Liz Palumbo ‘19:
Dora Khayatt Music and Art Competitions
Every year, the Episcopal Academy offers the Dora Khayatt Music and Art Competitions for gifted students. The music competition occurs in the winter, and the visual art competition takes place in the spring. The competitions allow students to receive acknowledgement for their talents, regardless of whether or not they win. Annie Rau ‘19 says, “I think that Dora Khayatt is really fun, seeing how much talent is in the school. Just seeing how creative your peers are, and also the wide range of artwork and the different capabilities of everyone.”
The Dora Khayatt competitions give students useful feedback that they can use to reflect on and improve their artistry. The visual art portion of the Dora Khayatt has blind judging from a panel of qualified judges. As Upper School Art teacher Hilary Hutchison says, “We always try to find somebody who’s connected to the art world, so it may be someone who is an artist themselves or someone who did some work with the gallery… It’s blind judging, so it’s great.” Alexandra Peyton ‘18 feels that blind judging offers her the unique opportunity of experiencing feedback on her pieces that are not from her art teachers. She says, “You really have to pick your strongest piece. It’s an outside judge, so you don’t know what they’re going to like, what they’re going to dislike. It’s not like when you’re with your teacher. It’s easy to know what your teacher’s going to like, because you’ve been getting feedback from them the whole year, so it’s a different opportunity.”
In the music competition, judges’ comments help students as well. Emma Humann ‘19, a competing singer and flutist, says, “I think it is always useful as a performer to get feedback.” Alex Oliva ‘19, a singer-songwriter, feels that Dora Khayatt gives him a goal for his music and self-written songs. He says, “It’s really fun; it’s kind of nice to have something to work toward.”
Episcopal’s art teachers often contribute to the expansion of students’ artistic abilities, which helps prepare them for Dora Khayatt. Pia Singh ‘19 says, “I entered in the Dora Khayatt competition for 2D Visual Art two years ago and didn’t place at all. Then last year, I submitted a still life oil painting in the 2D Visual Art category and it won First Place. I couldn’t have accomplished that jump without Mr. Sigel’s support, as that was the year I started taking his Honors 2D Design III class, which really allowed me to learn about my creative vision and develop my skills as an artist.”
Film Festival
Episcopal Academy offers an annual film festival for all Upper School students as part of Arts Fest. The festival promotes student creativity and helps give a voice to the student body. Students are able to create films with meaningful themes and use inventive techniques. Patrick Zhang ‘18 and Pia Singh ‘19 submitted a short film discussing police brutality for last year’s film festival. The film combined different types of art, such as poetry and acting. “We did an experimental film, so it’s based off of a poem that I wrote, and we had visuals to accompany it,” Zhang says. Emily Wingfield ‘18 acted as a child who died as a result of police brutality, and Elom Vedomy ‘19 acted as a parental figure. She says, “We wanted it to be open to interpretation, so we didn’t really specify who exactly was who.” The film festival encourages students to learn new skills and find a passion for film. Singh says, “This was the first film I’ve ever created, and I learned a lot about the whole creative process in storyboarding, directing, organizing material, and execution. I loved it.” Further, creating a film for the festival inspires students to submit their films into other competitions. “The film was shown in EA’s film festival, the Philly Youth Film Festival, at the All-American High School Film Festival in AMC Theaters in New York, and also won EA’s Film Festival Award and a Gold Key in the Scholastic Art Awards,” Singh says. The film festival is a rewarding experience that provides students with many opportunities. “It’s a little nerve-wracking seeing something you’ve created being shown in front of the public eye,” Singh concludes, “but it’s such a fulfilling experience seeing the finished product of all the hard work put into the film by so many people. It’s such a beautiful thing to see an idea come into mind and be celebrated.”
Tri-County Concerts Association Annual Youth Festival
The Tri-County Concerts Association Annual Youth Festival is a music competition open to middle and high school students in Montgomery, Delaware, and Chester counties. The competition requires an audition, and those who win perform at a final recital. The audition process allows participants to experience a broader world of music, and they receive valuable feedback. Michael Bai ‘20 participated in the festival last year and won an honorable mention. Bai played the alto-saxophone and performed First Concertino, composed by Georges Guilhaud. He says that the “pay-off is pretty good,” and he plans to audition again this year. The Tri-County Youth Festival is one of the most well-known music competitions in Southeastern Pennsylvania, so a large number of young musicians audition. Bai says, “I could see from my point of view that there were lines upon lines of other instrumentalists. You had the string players; you had the vocalists. It had a really competitive atmosphere.” He feels that the competition was beneficial and urges other students to participate.
Scholastic Art and Writing Awards
The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards is a national contest available to students in seventh to twelfth grade. It occurs every fall and allows Episcopal Academy students to showcase works in the visual, media, and literary arts; many students submit multiple pieces each year. Students join well-accomplished artists and writers such as Andy Warhol, Sylvia Plath, and Zac Posen as recipients of the contest’s prizes: gold keys, silver keys, bronze keys, and honorable mentions. Works are judged in three categories: Originality, Technical Skill, and Emergence of a Personal Vision or Voice.
The contest offers students an opportunity to cultivate and receive recognition for their artistic talent. Hilary Hutchison, Upper School Art teacher, says, “There are scholarship opportunities available. Colleges know about this contest because it’s the oldest contest that’s still in existence in the country. It’s really well regarded.” Christopher McCreary, Upper School English teacher, is impressed by the freedom students are given in their written submissions. He says, “One of the things that interests me the most about it is how open it is in terms of different categories. There are categories for both fiction and poetry, but within fiction I like some of the sub-genres they make room for, including speculative fiction. They also seem open to more full length pieces, short stories, and flash fiction, which I think opens it up to a lot of different writers.”
All works are blindly judged, and the judging starts at a regional level. Hutchison continues, “Gold key winners go on for national judging. In the national judging, they award medals in the competitions, and then students are invited to attend an awards ceremony.” Celebrities and well-known artists are often present at the awards show. Episcopal students feel that the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards gives them an excellent way to show their work and become involved in the art world. Annie Rau ‘19 says, “It’s a bigger, wider range program, but I think it was really cool because it felt like a big deal.” The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards are prestigious and give dedicated students a chance to be honored for their pieces. Pia Singh ‘19 states, “I’ve been submitting my artwork to Scholastic for three years now, it’s such an honorable competition and everyone who enters deserves recognition for the hard work they put into their creations!”