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WINSTON-SALEM — Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, in collaboration with Modern Automotive, will showcase student art at a Spring Arts Extravaganza on Tuesday, March 3, through Saturday, March 7, at the Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts in downtown Winston-Salem. The extravaganza features the best artwork from the school system, including painting, drawing, sculpture, photography and mixed media. The public is invited, and hundreds of students, parents and family members, teachers and arts enthusiasts attend each year.

The show has three divisions: elementary, middle and high school, with prizes awarded in each division. Judging will be done by Modern Automotive representatives Wednesday, March 4. A reception, which is free and open to the public, will be held from 5-7 p.m. Friday, March 6. Modern Automotive’s “Artists of the Future” contest winners and certificate recipients will be announced at 6 p.m. during Friday’s reception.

Also during the reception, there will be  a special, hands-on art activity for kids by The Sawtooth School for Visual Art, sponsored by Modern Automotive, and children may take their work home as souvenirs. Parking in The Arts Council parking lot on North Spruce Street is free during the reception, courtesy of Modern Automotive.

Three  winners will receive a $250 Sawtooth School scholarship from Modern Automotive. The Sawtooth School will present each winner with a one-year family membership. Modern Automotive will present three honorable mention artists with a one-year student membership to The Sawtooth School as well as present $150 Dick Blick certificates (to purchase supplies for their classrooms) to the art teachers of the three first-place winners. Photographs of student winners will be featured in Modern’s print advertising.

The Arts Council cites enhancing arts education in the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County school system and touching every student as a  core mission. Studies have showed that the arts strengthen the educational process and inspire academic performance, help keep at-risk students engaged, and inspire the kind of creative thinking that is important for success. The Arts Council, in partnership with Wells Fargo, provides “Arts in Education” grants that benefit nearly every child in the school system each year.

“The Spring Arts Extravaganza is always an exciting event here at The Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts,” said Randy Eaddy, president and CEO of The Arts Council. “There is tremendous energy, and attendees see immediately the amazingly high level of art instruction our students receive across all disciplines and the creativity that undergirds and enhances academic programming,” Eaddy said.

The Arts Council’s 2020 Community Fund for the Arts campaign was launched in late January. Dollars contributed by individuals, in workplace campaigns, by businesses, foundations and others, help ensure that The Arts Council and the school system can  offer vital arts programming. “It’s certainly a wise investment in the futures of our children that will yield huge dividends,” said Eaddy.

Modern Automotive has 16 dealerships throughout North Carolina, with four dealerships serving the greater Winston-Salem area.