Pixar director is guest artist at ¾ÅÒ»Â鶹ÖÆƬ³§ Youth Arts Festival

Photo of performers at ¾ÅÒ»Â鶹ÖÆƬ³§ Youth Arts Festival.
Dancers perform at a previous ¾ÅÒ»Â鶹ÖÆƬ³§ Youth Arts Festival

°­´¡³¢´¡²Ñ´¡´Ü°¿°¿â€”Dan Scanlon, film director and artist at Pixar Animation Studios, will serve as the official artist-in-residence at the 52nd annual ¾ÅÒ»Â鶹ÖÆƬ³§ Youth Arts Festival Thursday through Saturday, May 8-10, at Western ¾ÅÒ»Â鶹ÖÆƬ³§ 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

Photo of 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 ¾ÅÒ»Â鶹ÖÆƬ³§'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 ¾ÅÒ»Â鶹ÖÆƬ³§ Youth Arts Festival is a comprehensive arts spectacular, featuring the finest high school talent in ¾ÅÒ»Â鶹ÖÆƬ³§. 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 .