Dancers perform at a previous Michigan Youth Arts Festival
KALAMAZOO—Dan Scanlon, film director and artist at Pixar Animation Studios, will serve as the official artist-in-residence at the 52nd annual Michigan Youth Arts Festival Thursday through Saturday, May 8-10, at Western Michigan University.
Scanlon will be the special guest artist at a public film festival with a post-show talk from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday in the Richmond Center for Visual Arts' DeVries Student Gallery. That presentation is one of many public events offered during the three-day festival.
Dan Scanlon
Scanlon
Scanlon is most recently known for directing Disney-Pixar's 14th feature film "Monsters University," which received the 2013 Hollywood Animation Award from the Hollywood Film Awards. He has also worked as a storyboard artist for the award-winning feature films "Cars" and "Toy Story 3," co-directed the short film "Mater and the Ghostlight" and served on the senior creative team for "Brave."
Prior to joining Pixar, Scanlon worked as an animator for a variety of films, including "The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea," "101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure," "Joseph: King of Dreams" and "The Indescribable Nth."
"We're absolutely thrilled to give Michigan's top youth talent an interactive experience with such a renowned professional in the creative field," says Marianne Dorais, executive director of the festival. The Michigan Youth Arts Festival is a comprehensive arts spectacular, featuring the finest high school talent in Michigan. More than 250,000 students participate statewide in the selection process that results in 1,000 being invited to participate in the festival.
Public events
Other public events include visual arts exhibits, a theatre performance, vocal solo and ensemble recitals, a second film festival, a gala concert, a dance showcase, and two theatre, creative writing and poetry showcases.
For more information, including a schedule of public events, visit michiganyoutharts.org/festival.