Dear Independent Entrants to the Monmouth County Teen Arts Festival,

Please take time to review plans for the Teen Arts Festival, 2008, as registrations start October 1.

The Monmouth County Teen Arts Festival is set for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, March 17, 18 and 19, 2008, at Brookdale Community College (BCC), Lincroft, New Jersey. Please note change in days.

Monday, March 17, is set-up day for Visual Arts; if you are exhibiting a visual art piece (only one piece per student), plan to come to the Center for Visual Arts at BCC, to submit the art piece, between 10 and 4 pm. All independent entries will be placed together in group.

Tuesday March 18 and Wednesday March 19 are the two Festival days, from 9:00 to 2:00pm. The opening Reception will be Monday March 17, 6-8 pm, in the gallery of the CVA building. All are invited to attend.

This year, the workshops will be 45 minutes long, and in a variety of arts disciplines. The catalog (available approximately 2 weeks before the Festival) will list the workshops, descriptions and locations. Many adjudicators will present master classes before or during the adjudication schedule. There will be no written Visual Arts Adjudications this year; Art Talks by Professional Artists are planned. All adjudications are scheduled by Festival staff, over both days.

Three TAF registration workshops are scheduled to facilitate registrations and to answer questions. MCAC can now offer Professional Development Hours for teacher/participants of the workshops. Locations for the workshops, the dates of which are listed in the Festival Dates Schedule, will be posted on our website.

I attended the State Teen Arts Festival 2008 planning meeting, and must report that plans for 2008 are not definite, but most likely it will repeat the format of the 2007 State Festival event at Prallsville Mills. If you attended, overall attendance was less than 300 students from the entire state; it was small, only solo or small performing groups were invited. Dance and large groups were not invited. We are exploring other options to the State Festival; if you have a suggestion, please contact us.

Independents should use the registration form, found online, and include applications for adjudications, with the independent’s fee of $25. In completing your registrations, please remember that one ADJUDICATION APPLICATION must be completed for each request for adjudication, especially important when requesting second adjudications. Adjudication forms can be found online at www.monmouthartscouncil.org under Art Education, Teen Arts Festival, Registration, Forms. Adjudications will be scheduled as they are received. There is limited space and time at the Festival, but we will do our very best to schedule second adjudications.

One addition for 2008 registrations is the Worksheet for Adjudications. Complete it with as much information as possible to help us schedule efficiently. That information will create the program, your schedule, and the juror’s packets.

Looking forward to a successful and fun Teen Arts Festival 2008!

Sincerely, 
Sandy Taylor
Art Education Director and Teen Arts Festival Coordinator