The Orange County Register’s is proud to announce the 2022 nominees for the Artist of the Year program.
Like athletes representing their countries at the Olympics, these high school students represent artistic excellence being cultivated in 72 Orange County high schools and arts organizations. This year, 646 juniors and seniors were nominated by arts teachers and private arts instructors.
Meet the Artist of the Year nominees
Dance
Film and animation
Instrumental music
Vocal music
Theater
Computer-assisted visual arts
Handcrafted visual arts
Within each discipline — theater, dance, film, vocal music, instrumental music, computer-assisted visual arts and handcrafted visual arts — students have been nominated in specific specialties that highlight the area of the discipline in which they are the most accomplished. For instance, a dance student may be nominated in either concert dance, commercial dance, street dance, or world/cultural dance.
Following this initial nomination, a panel of arts educators narrow down the list and choose semifinalists to move on to a round of in-person interviews with arts professionals and arts faculty from Orange County universities. The semi-finalists will be announced on April 24. The top Artist of the Year for each discipline, as well as finalists in each specialty, will be announced on May 1.
This program is in the third year of a generous sponsorship from the Chapman University College of Performing Arts. Chapman has committed $25,000 a year for general operating expenses.
“We are very happy that we can host OC Artist of the Year at Chapman once again, and in person! We went through a very challenging period for the performing arts, but we are opening up and returning to live performances, which are really what we all live for.” said Giulio M. Ongaro, dean of Chapman’s College of Performing Arts. “Our partnership with OC Artist of the Year is very important to us at the College of Performing Arts, because we want to recognize excellence in the arts and encourage young students to follow their dreams. We are honored to participate in this important event.”
In addition, the Laguna College of Art and Design provides $250 to each of the top seven students and will also offer a $2,500 scholarship to any finalist in the visual arts or animation specialties who plan to attend LCAD.
“We are proud to be sponsoring the Artist of the Year Program for the fourth consecutive year,” said Steve Brittan, president of LCAD. “And this year is particularly exciting for us, as we emerge from the pandemic and once again have the honor of being able to meet these talented, creative leaders of the future, and experience their incredible work in person.”
To view the complete list of nominees for each discipline, endorsements from the students’ teachers and links to samples of the students’ work, click on the links below.
Computer-Assisted Visual Arts
Dance
Film/Animation
Handcrafted Visual Arts
Instrumental Music
Theater
Vocal Music