Cardozo High artists win trip to Miami

Five Queens students were selected during a nationwide search to take part in youngARTS Week, which will send the student artists to Miami for a week.
About 7,300 students nationwide applied for the opportunity to be a part of youngARTS, which is a program through the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts (NFAA), with 141 being selected in total. It was open to artists between the ages of 17 and 18.
Benjamin N. Cardozo High School senior Nuo Yuan found out about the program through her school class and was told about a month ago that she had been selected as one of the winners.
&#8220It was quite a shock to me,” Yuan, a Bayside resident, said.
Yuan first got interested in art while on a trip where she met someone who always carried around a sketch book. From there, she began drawing on her own and now creates art in several different mediums, including oil painting.
&#8220I had no idea what I was getting myself into,” Yuan said. &#8220It just kind of grew from there.”
The winners will spend January 8 through January 14 in Miami, where they will create work, collaborate with other winners, work with mentors, take master classes and participate in readings and showcases. On January 13, they will take part in a performance and gala, called &#8220An Affair of the Arts.”
Also, participating young artists will have a chance to compete for prize money of more than $500,000.
&#8220The first thing the kids always say about their Miami experiences is that it is not the money,” said NFAA president William H. Banchs. &#8220It is the fact that they found other young people who understand them, who empathized with them, who made the same sacrifices, the same commitments and have worked just as hard as they had to reach the level of artistry that brought them to Miami.”
Yuan said that she is looking forward to meeting other artists from around the country and having group discussions.
Following graduation from Benjamin Cardozo High School, Yuan is planning on going to an art institute to continue her studies.
The other Queens students taking part in youngARTS Week will be Namhun Lee, also from Benjamin N. Cardozo High School, Matthew Richards of the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts and Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts students Hannah Sun and Nathaniel Taylor-Leach.