Press release:
Cypress, CALIF. (May 12, 2015) – Vans, the original action sports footwear and apparel brand is proud to announce the top five high schools who have been selected for the sixth annual Vans Custom Culture high school art competition. The finalists are competing for a $50,000 grand prize toward their school’s arts education program. More than 2,500 schools participated in the 2015 competition and Vans turned to the public to vote for the five finalists.
The top five finalists vying for the $50,000 grand prize include:
· Carlsbad High School – California Region (Carlsbad, CA)
· Parker High School – Northwest Region (Parker, SD)
· Circleville High School – Northeast Region (Circleville, OH)
· Foothill High School – Southwest Region (Henderson, NV)
· McCracken County High – Southeast Region (Paducah, KY)
The art class from each school will travel to New York City for the final event on June 9 at Industria SuperStudio where a panel of celebrity judges will select the winning class. The grand-prize winner will be awarded $50,000 as well as the opportunity to see one of their designs produced for sale at select Vans retail locations and Vans.com. Additionally, Vans will award each runner-up $4,000 to their school’s art programs.
“The finalists for the Vans Custom Culture Competition truly captured the essence of Vans through art, music and action sports while staying true to their unique and local passions,” said Sarah Crockett, vice president of global consumer marketing at Vans. “While it’s not going to be easy for the judges to select the grand-prize winner, we are extremely proud of the hard work and the creativity that the students put into this competition.”
Vans Custom Culture was created to inspire and empower high school students through creative expression while calling attention to the shrinking funds dedicated to art education programs. Earlier this year, more than 2,500 high schools across the country registered to compete – the most in Custom Culture’s six-year history. As part of the competition, each participating school created four unique designs to represent the Vans “Off the Wall” lifestyle using iconic Vans footwear silhouettes. Utilizing various artistic mediums to showcase their work, students crafted their submissions by pulling inspiration from action sports, art, music and each school’s own “local flavor.”
Vans Custom Culture partners, truth® and Journeys are also providing participating schools with an additional opportunity to raise funds for their art programs. truth, the nation’s most successful and longest running youth smoking prevention campaign, inspired the 50 semi-finalists with the fact that in 2014, only 8% of teens still smoked. That’s down from 23% in 2000. truth challenged the students to customize a skate deck by imagining what it looks like when smoking is finished for good. This year, truth awarded Carlsbad High School of Carlsbad, Calif. with $10,000 for its art program. During the June 9 event, Journeys will be awarding $15,000 to the best display of the “local flavor” theme from the top five finalist schools.
Join in the Vans Custom Culture conversation by using the hashtag #VansCustomCulture and at www.vans.com/customculture to stay up-to-date on the winner of the 2015 competition.
About Vans
Vans®, a VF Corporation (NYSE: VFC) brand, is the original action sports footwear, apparel and accessories brand. Vans authentic collections are sold globally in more than 75 countries through a network of subsidiaries, distributors and international offices. Vans also owns and operates more than 450 retail locations around the world. The Vans brand promotes the action sports lifestyle, youth culture and creative self-expression through the support of athletes, musicians and artists and through progressive events and platforms such as the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing®, the Vans U.S. Open of Surfing, Vans Pool Party, Vans Custom Culture, Vans Warped Tour®, and Vans’ cultural hub and international music venue, the House of Vans.
