What is 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. 

Photos: Betty L Hum Photography and Hank Fries

Aside from attending workshops and gallery talks by outstanding local and national artists, Visions students also 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 a culminating exhibition in the Center Space gallery, located in Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts.

Latest Exhibition

Explore the most recent exhibition online. 

Testimonials

“At the Visions Retreat up in Prescott, I was able to interact with different artists who specialize in different media and make new friends. After the course of the program, I feel more confident in myself and the way I present or talk to others.” — Student, Tempe High School  

“I made something that was very meaningful to me. I am proud of what I accomplished.” — Student, New School for the Arts & Academics 

“My students who completed their projects really showed increasing engagement in their art making and interest in art making after each workshop.” — Teacher, Tempe High School 

“One of my favorite days in the Visions program, which is full of ‘aha’ moments, is the install day. Students actually learn how to hang their own artwork. The process is not completely straightforward, and there is a great deal of thought and problem-solving that goes into hanging some of these works. They really get to see behind the scenes and start to appreciate this hidden and sometimes unnoticed aspect of exhibitions. — Teacher, Shadow Mountain High School 

“I learned to look deeper into things, to truly reach out with my heart to feel what others are feeling.” — Student, Pinnacle High School

“One of my students had a really tough year—home life, health, academically—and his inclusion in the Visions program gave him something to look forward to when he felt like nothing else was working. At one point, he was thinking of quitting in-person school, but Visions was one of the reasons he stayed at Chaparral. As the program concluded, everything seemed to come back together for him, and he has exploded with creativity.  He’s back on track at school, he started a website/Instagram of his work and has high hopes for his future in the arts. I received a very thoughtful ‘thank you’ letter from his mom for helping him through this tough year. I attribute a lot of that to the Visions program. It gave me a space to interact with him through the arts on a deeper level than the school day normally allows and the whole program gave him advanced insight and confidence in his own process as an artist/photographer.” — Teacher, Chaparral High School

“This program has opened up a whole new level of creativity, allowing students to fully express themselves, which makes my classroom that much more open and fun to learn in.”  — Teacher, Visions ‘20 

“I struggle with depression and anxiety, and my mind would sometimes be so negative that I couldn’t go to school. With Visions, and the policy of keeping grades up and attendance up, and just the overall excitement of counting down the days until the next Visions meeting, honestly keeps me getting up out of bed in the morning. I have never been so close to a certain group of students and teachers.” — Student, Visions ‘20 

Paradise Valley Community College Partnership

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