Student Programs
Programs that connect students with professional artists and arts experiences.
Empty Bowls
Alli Ortega Empty Bowls uses arts-integrated workshops to teach students the artistic skill of creating bowls and the civic responsibility of caring for our community. Once created, the bowls are auctioned off at an annual event with proceeds benefiting Scottsdale Community Partners and the city of Scottsdale Human Services programs for youth families and seniors in crisis.
Grades: 4 and up
Cost: free to Scottsdale schools
Empty Bowls is supported by Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community and in partnership with Scottsdale Community Partners.
Visions
Visions is a year-long visual arts program provided to Valley teens. In collaboration with six high schools, advanced art students visit Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMoCA) for discipline-based, contemporary, and civically involved art workshops with professional teaching artists. Field trips involve collaborative art projects designed to facilitate multicultural discussions, conflict-resolution practices, and innovative painting, digital, photography, video, sound, and sculptural techniques.
Aside from attending workshops and gallery talks by outstanding local and national artists, Visions students partake in an overnight retreat in northern Arizona, visit college and university art departments, collaborate on communication workshops and diversity discussions, and professionally showcase their work in an exhibition in the Center Space gallery, located in Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts.
Participation in the program is by invitation only to high-excelling high school art programs.
Sponsored by Nationwide
Cultural Connections Dance
Cultural Connections Dance gives high school and post-secondary dance students the opportunity to work with touring professional companies and their dancers. This multifaceted dance program helps students become more aware of their bodies and minds through masterclasses, performances, and workshops. This experience is a must for students wanting to add to their pre-professional experience or expand their knowledge of dance.
The 2025-26 season will feature masterclasses with companies including Gallim, Ballet Hispanico, Hung Dance, and Jacob Jonas.
This program is by invitation only to Valley schools.
Grades: high school, post-secondary
Cost: $500 per school
Cultural Connections Dance sponsored by Betty Hum and Alan Yudell, Nationwide Foundation, Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, and Thunderbirds Charities.
For more information, email us at Learning@ScottsdaleArts.org.
SMoCA Museum Programs and Tours
Explore the rotating exhibitions at SMoCA through programs that promote critical thinking and artistic discovery.
Student Matinees
Experience the joy of live theatre in curriculum-connected performances at Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts
Student matinees are supported by The Theodore R. Stephan Endowment for Student Matinees and APS.