For 2020, 95 students submitted artwork to the Arlington Public Art's Youth Banner Initiative, and 20 designs were selected to be printed as banners and hung on light poles this spring along Mass. Ave. in Arlington Center.

To see all of the images, click artsarlington.org/youth-banner-initiative and scroll down.

Three Arlington-based panelists juried the artwork, including artists Pinal Maniar and Karen McCarthy and Tom Formicola, the new executive director of Arlington Center for the Arts. They reviewed the artwork based on two criteria: creative interpretation of the theme “cycles” and clarity of the image, because banners are viewed from a distance.

A reception to celebrate all participants is scheduled for Thursday, April 2, during Arlington High School’s annual art show. At that time, three scholarship winners and a People’s Choice winner will be announced.

The printed banners typically are hung in early April. The previous years’ banners are being repurposed into beautiful, useful totes and will be available for purchase.

Every year, beginning in 2016, teens living or attending school in Arlington have been invited to submit designs for banners. The Youth Banner Initiative encourages development in the visual arts and an opportunity for students in grades six to 12 to be part of Arlington’s public-art programming.

Funding is provided by the Gracie James Foundation in memory of Gracie James, a talented Arlington High School student who found solace and joy in the arts and died in 2010.

The effort has cointinued since 2016.

The Arlington Commission for Arts and Culture administers the initiative, and Kaitlin Longmire is the program’s coordinator.  We are grateful to Visual Arts Department head David Ardito, and all of the wonderful art teachers at the high school and middle school, for making this program so successful by encouraging their students to create and submit artwork.

Students selected

The committee chose images by these students:

Annika Benn   
Arlington High School    
Ms. McCulloch (teacher)

Jane Commons
Arlington High School    
Ms. McCulloch

Ilana Cooke      
Arlington High School    
Ms. McCulloch

Austin Cronin  
Arlington High School    
Ms. Rebola

Sonia Erbe        
Arlington High School    
Ms. Rebola

Lillian Forney  
Arlington High School    
Ms. McCulloch

Claire Grant      
Arlington High School    
Ms. Rebola

Ella Henson      
Arlington High School    
Ms. McCulloch

Anna Hornak    
Arlington High School    
Ms. Rebola

Eliot Hughes    
Ottoson Middle School
Ms. McKenna

Caroline Kenneally        
Arlington High School    
Ms. Rebola

Zoe Miller          
Arlington High School    
Ms. Rebola

Sean Molloy    
Arlington High School    
Ms. McCulloch

Toni Mueller    
Arlington High School    
Ms. Rebola

Cailyn Murphy
Arlington High School    
Ms. Rebola

Eben Negro      
Arlington High School    
Ms. McCulloch

Sarah Peterson
Arlington High School    
Ms. Rebola

Martha Smilovitz            
Arlington High School    
Ms. Rebola

Grace Weinstein            
Arlington High School    
Ms. McCulloch

Stella Wong      
Arlington High School    
Ms. Rebola

To view past winners of the Teen Banner Initiative, check out the gallery >>

Jan. 8, 2019: '19 youth project names 3 winners; banners are up

This news announcement was published Monday, Jan. 6, 2020, and updated Jan. 23, to change logo.