Texas Young Masters honors young student artists in Texas

AUSTIN, Texas - The Texas Commission on the Arts and Texas Cultural Trust have announced the 2020 class of Texas Young Masters.

The program provides students in 8th-11th grades with grants to pursue advanced study in their artistic discipline including visual arts, literary arts, music, theater, dance, musical theater, folk arts, media arts, and more.

This year's 15 students are the 10th class of Texas Young Masters and come from 11 Texas cities. 

The students not only get to be called a "Young Master" but they will get a scholastic grant of $10,000 that will be disbursed over two years.

The grants are made possible through donations and the Texas Cultural Trust has launched a crowdfunding campaign to benefit the 2020 grantees.

The following individuals are in the 2020 class:

• Jordan Apodaca, 11th grade, Dallas, Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing & Visual Arts, Dance
• Ava Arbuckle, 9th grade, Frisco, iUniversity Preparatory School, Dance/Ballet
• Hannah Bambach, 11th grade, Dallas, Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing & Visual Arts, Literary Arts/Playwriting
• Haley Beck, 10th grade, Allen, Allen High School, Dance
• Christian Burse, 10th grade, Dallas, Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing & Visual Arts, Dance
• Claire Druffner, 11th grade, Dallas, Coram Deo Academy, Music/Cello
• Vincent Garcia-Hettinger, 9th grade, San Antonio, Brandeis High School, Music/Cello
• Colby Golightly, 11th grade, North Richland Hills, Richland High School, Visual Arts/Painting
• Kali Kleiman, 11th grade, Frisco, iUniversity Preparatory School, Dance/Ballet
• Cayden McCoy, 11th grade, League City, Clear Springs High School, Theater
• Ellie Palacios, 10th grade, Harlingen, Harlingen South High School, Musical Theater 
• Isobel Perez, 10th grade, Houston, Kinder High School for the Performing & Visual Arts, Literary Arts/Poetry
• Keshav Srinivasan, 10th grade, Sunset Valley, Liberal Arts and Science Academy, Music/Violin
• Michelle Wang, 11th grade, Sugar Land, Clements High School, Visual Arts
•  Somesh Yatham, 10th grade, Round Rock, Round Rock High School, Music/Orchestral Composition

A celebration has been planned for April 20 but it was canceled due to COVID-19. The students will now be introduced and recognized through videos that are being shared over digital and social media in April and May.

You can get more details from about the Texas Cultural Trust here and the Texas Commission on the Arts here.