Last year’s scholarship winners were honored at a reception at the Old Lahaina Courthouse. The 2018 Artist Reception & Awards Ceremony will be held at the Outlets of Maui on Wednesday, April 18, from 4 to 6 p.m.

LAHAINA – Lahaina Arts Association’s vision is to provide artistic opportunities to support Maui’s young artists. The annual High School Senior Art Scholarship, Competition and Exhibition is one of its most rewarding programs.

LAA’s donors, volunteers and sponsors make it possible for the organization to award scholarships and prizes every year to Maui County youth who want to pursue an art-related post-secondary education.

In honor of the 40th year, LAA has expanded the program in hopes of making an even greater impact on these young artists.

This year, LAA will double the scholarship amount to award seven scholarships of $1,000 for the first place winners for painting, drawing, mixed media, photography, 3-D, and digital art.

The Outlets of Maui is sponsoring this program by hosting the two-week exhibition of students’ artwork at its location in Lahaina. The exhibition will be open to the public from April 2-18 in Suite H4B.

The Artist Reception & Awards Ceremony will be held at the Outlets of Maui on Wednesday, April 18, from 4 to 6 p.m. The awards ceremony will take place on the main stage at 4:45 p.m. The reception is open to the public – join LAA in celebrating Maui’s most talented young artists as they embark on a new artistic career.

Previous winners have gone on to attend college all over the world, including Pratt Institute; California College of Arts; University of Oregon; Gonzaga University in Florence, Italy; University of Puget Sound; and the University of Hawaii, to name a few.

All of the scholarship awards are sponsored by individual donors. This year, the following donors made the scholarship awards possible: Maui on Metal Gallery, Joel & Kathy Heinz, Earl Thompson, Andrew Shoemaker, Grace McDonnell Art Fund, Al Harty, and Lahaina Arts Society.

LAA looks forward to growing this program each year to include larger scholarship awards, more prizes and more opportunities for local youth. Visit www.Lahaina-Arts.org for more information.

Lahaina Arts Association (LAA) is a 501(c)(3) charity dedicated to providing Maui County youth access to the creative arts through education and artistic opportunities.

LAA offers free after-school art classes to children of Maui County and in-school arts programming to Hana School and Lanai School through the Maui Youth Art Outreach Program. LAA inspires creative thinking and artistic expression by creating opportunities for art appreciation and education through the support of grants, foundations and individual donations.