Oregon Center for the Arts Presents Best of the Best - Rogue Valley High School Artists Gallery Show - FREE EVENT!

Join us for the Best of the Best High School Art Show on Friday, May 2, 2025 on the Southern Oregon University Campus in Ashland. This event is free and open to the public to attend the art show. As a regional art show, the Best of the Best Art Show provides high school students the opportunity to display their work in a professional setting, be recognized for their art, and gain practical exposure to visual arts as a potential career and college pathway. The physical exhibition of student art rotates locations annually, cycling between The Center for Visual Arts galleries at SOU, Rogue Gallery Art Center in Medford, and the Grants Pass Museum of Art. High school students representing Armadillo, Ashland, Crater, Eagle Point. Grants Pass, Hidden Valley, Illinois Valley, Logos Charter, North Medford, North Valley, Phoenix, Rogue River, and South Medford High Schools spend a day on campus and participate in visual arts workshops at the SOU campus art studios, have the opportunity to attend guest artists talks that address their educational experience, career and work and enjoy a variety of activities. Recognition of Excellence prizes are awarded to the top pieces selected by a panel of judges. All the students receive a participation certificate and the opportunity to list this special recognition on resumes and applications.

The Oregon Center for the Arts at Southern Oregon University is a hub of creativity, education, and community engagement. As an academic division of Southern Oregon University, the OCA offers programs of study for students in Music, Theatre, and Creative Arts, and is also a regional arts center that hosts a wide range of exhibitions and performances. The OCA partners with community arts organizations, including the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the Britt Music & Arts Festival, and the Ashland New Plays Festival, to bring a diverse array of arts experiences to the region.

One of the OCA's most exciting initiatives is the Schneider Museum of Art, which engages with the visual arts through exhibitions and programs that support interdisciplinary study, research, and discourse for both the academic and public communities. The OCA is also home to the Chamber Music Concerts, which present chamber music of the highest quality for the enjoyment, enrichment, and education of the Southern Oregon, Northern California, and Southern Oregon University communities.

Each spring, the OCA produces the Oregon Fringe Festival, a multi-day event celebrating bold, innovative, and outrageous creativity in the arts. The festival is a crossroads for emerging artists and professional practitioners to engage with each other’s creative work, and features a diverse roster of music, theatre, visual art, film, physical theatre, dance, circus, spoken word, and more. In addition to performances, the festival also includes panels and workshops for students and the greater community.

The OCA also houses the ShakespeareAMERICA Institute, a forum for practitioners, scholars, teachers, students, and audiences to explore new and provocative thinking about the works of William Shakespeare through the prism of an American perspective. With so much going on, the Oregon Center for the Arts at Southern Oregon University is a thriving center of artistic excellence and a hub for the creative spirit.