Home > Around Town > International Young Artists & Authors Showcase opens at USF

International Young Artists & Authors Showcase opens at USF

By Eddie Torres

Fort Wayne Reader

2016-10-09

Each year, youth ages 14–18 from sister cities across the U.S. and globe submit artwork, poetry, and essays (and new in 2016 short film and photography from ages 13–22) for Sister Cities International’s (SCI) Young Artists and Authors Showcase. This year, Fort Wayne Sister Cities International (FWSCI) invited SCI to include Fort Wayne in its national tour of Grand Prize Winners and Finalists.

The show will be on display in the Mimi and Ian Roland Rolland Art Gallery Art & Visual Communication Center, School of Creative Arts on the USF campus THROUGH October 27.

Included in this year's exhibition are 19 pieces of art, poetry and essays from all over the world.

Each year, high school students from all over the world submit work based on the theme, Peace through People. The artwork is sent to Sister Cities International, Washington, D.C. where a panel of judges selects the winners based on originality, composition, and theme interpretation.

The YAAS program gives Sister Cities International a chance to reach out into communities, worldwide, engage local English and art teachers, and access a student audience that may not be included in other sister city programming. After the finalists for art and literature are announced each year, the work embarks on a year-long tour hosted by local sister city programs.

The SCI theme, Peace through People, celebrates the organization’s mission to promote peace through mutual respect, understanding, and cooperation – one individual, one community at a time.

Fort Wayne Sister Cities International (FWSCI) was established in 1976 and organized in 1983 as an Indiana corporation. Fort Wayne has 4 Sister Cities: Gera, Germany; Plock, Poland; Takaoka, Japan; Taizhou, China; and a Friendship City in Mawlamyine, Burma.

FWSCI, a not-for-profit 501(c) (3) corporation, is affiliated with Sister Cities International, headquartered in Washington, D.C. FWSCI’s mission is to globally advance friendship and peace through educational, cultural and economic exchanges. To learn more about FWSCI visit their website (Fortwaynesistercities.net) or their Facebook page,

Fort Wayne Sister Cities Hosts Exhibition of International Young Artists & Authors Showcase
Saturday, October 8 - Thursday, October 27, 2016. (Opening Reception happens Saturday, October 15, 6 to 9 p.m. Weatherhead Gallery, Rolland Art Center)

Mimi and Ian Rolland Art and Visual Communication Center
School of Creative Arts, University of Saint Francis,
2701 Spring Street (Leesburg Rd. Entrance)