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ArtNow, NUMU’s annual Santa Clara County juried high school exhibition and education program, offers high school artists the unique chance to strengthen their artistic abilities by exhibiting in a museum setting. This program thrives thanks to a community of unwavering supporters who recognize the profound impact that arts education has on the development of our youth. Your support has played a pivotal role in guiding the forthcoming generation of creatives, ensuring that young artists not only have access to the arts, but also a safe space where they can express their authentic selves. We need your support to continue to challenge and celebrate these emerging young artists.
Your gift is most needed by Friday, February 28, 2025. This will ensure you are included in the appropriate printed & virtual exhibition materials. Gifts above $7,500 will include logo recognition in the exhibition, gifts of $1,000* and above include recognition in the exhibition catalog.
Should you have any questions please email give@numulosgatos.org
*Gifts above $7,500+ please send a high-quality version of your logo to press@numulosgatos.org.
About ArtNow: NUMU's Annual Juried High School Exhibition
ArtNow is an annual juried Santa Clara County high school art exhibition and educational program, presented by New Museum Los Gatos (NUMU). The ArtNow Exhibition and supporting programs offer opportunities for high school student artists, from Palo Alto to Gilroy, to gain real-world experience in participating in a juried museum exhibition. Each year, a new theme is chosen for the exhibition and students are asked to submit works based on that theme. $10,000+ in scholarships and awards are given to select participating students. Accepted students have the opportunity to win awards in 8 artistic categories as well as an overall Best in Show prize and a People’s Choice award. The categories are Painting, Drawing, Mixed Media, Printmaking, Sculpture, Photography, Digital Art & Video/Animation.
ArtNow 2024: In Transition will be on view at NUMU from March 22 - June 30.
Explore ArtNow
Browse the ArtNow Archive to explore past exhibition themes, catalogs, programs, videos, “Best in Show” artworks, and blog posts. We encourage interested students to look through past exhibition catalogs to get inspired as they prepare their ArtNow submissions.
ArtNow Testimonials
Student Testimonials
"Thank you so much for your support through the ArtNow Best in Show Scholarship! It was an honor to be chosen as the recipient and it really helped reassure my parents and me that I have what it takes to continue to pursue art in college and in the far future. Growing up in a very STEM-centric culture that dismissed the humanities as a whole, I didn't realize art was a viable career option at all until my senior year of high school. But now, I’m very excited to take the next step with my fine art and illustration, and this scholarship is going to help fund my education at the Rhode Island School of Design as I do so!”
Gina Bae
Palo Alto High School
ArtNow Best in Show 2022
“Dear Mr. and Mrs. Parsons,
I wanted to express my belated thanks for your more than generous contributions to the ArtNow Program at the New Museum. In the year and a half since the exhibition, I have been able to reflect upon how much your support of the arts has truly meant to me. The ArtNow program is what made me believe my passion for painting could lead me to a career in the arts. That confidence helped me complete an academic art portfolio and even apply to art schools for college. In the end I decided to pursue my education at UC Berkeley, studying Economics and Fine Arts. My passion for art is something that I will continue to pursue, and never let go. Without your support, I would have never realized how much the arts mean to me and my future.”
Akshay Thakur
Prospect High School
ArtNow Best in Show 2019
Teacher Testimonials
“My students have entered their artworks since the program started 11 years ago. I incorporate the submission for the ArtNow exhibition as a part of my curriculum so that all my art students can participate, regardless of their skill level.
ArtNow offers students the real-life experience of what an artist goes through to get their work exhibited in a museum. The experience fosters self-confidence, critical thinking skills, creative expression, as well as teaching students the intrinsic value of art. ArtNow is one of the rare programs that rewards students for the inherent value of art.
With this year’s theme “Brave New World,” I asked students to consider the social changes we need to make to create the future we want. Students nowadays are overwhelmed and painfully aware of dystopian issues such as environmental crisis and social injustice. So, I proposed a question: If you can change the world into a place you want to live in, what would it be like? What would your ideal future world look like? How do you want your future to look like?” I wanted my students to work with a sense of hope and to take on the challenge of visually expressing the future world they want.
By participating in the program, students were able to bring their voices and artworks outside the confine of classrooms.”
Christine An
Los Altos High School
2022
“As a teacher who has participated in the ArtNow Exhibition since its inception, I can attest to years of students who have grown immensely from having made work for the exhibition. Many students through the years have commented to me that preparing for this submission has changed the way they think about their work—not only what it looks like, but how to present it, how to title it and, how to write an artist statement that authentically gives context to the ideas that they hope to convey visually. As a practicing artist I know the value of putting your work out in the world for others to engage with it. That process takes artmaking from a personal endeavor and transforms it into an opportunity, a goal, a conversation. For young artists to be a part of an exhibition that energizes so many students in studios all over the county is invaluable. It offers real world experience that cannot be taught in the classroom alone. The confidence, perspective and encouragement that students derive from this experience is transformational. Even students who do not get into the exhibit have said to me that they learned so much by going through the application process and from seeing the exhibit. In many cases not getting accepted has driven my students to work harder and think bigger. It is a testament to the power of this program’s reach when young people can grow from the experience whether or not they get accepted. And, it is a testament to the power of ArtNow to see students transformed by exhibiting their work in a museum setting. I have witnessed the momentum that this experience provides…it ripples through my classes year after year.
I cannot say enough about the professionalism, commitment and passion that the NUMU staff continually show in mounting this exhibition. And, I have such gratitude for the community collaborators in making this experience possible for my students and those in classrooms throughout Santa Clara county.”
Matthew Reynolds
Lynbrook High School
2022
