Monthly Archives: March 2025

$61,000 Awarded for Excellence in the Arts
Arts Educator Award Recipient Also Announced

[CINCINNATI, OH] – The Cincinnati Arts Association is pleased to announce the winners of its Overture Awards Competition, held on Saturday, March 15, 2025 at the Aronoff Center’s Jarson-Kaplan Theater, and the recipient of its Arts Educator Award for Excellence in Arts Instruction. The competition awarded $4,000 to six area students for education and training, $2,000 each to the 18 runners-up, and $1,000 to the Arts Educator Award recipient.

The Overture Awards recognizes, encourages, and rewards excellence in the arts among Tri-state students in grades 9-12 and is the area’s largest solo arts competition. Students are nominated by their schools and/or private studios to compete in one of six disciplines: Creative Writing, Dance, Instrumental Music, Theater, Visual Art, and Vocal Music. There are three levels of competition: Regional, Semi-Final, and Final.

The Arts Educator Award promotes and rewards excellence in arts instruction throughout Greater Cincinnati. An educator who teaches any of the following arts disciplines may be nominated: Creative Writing, Dance, Instrumental Music, Theater, Visual Art, and Vocal Music. A nominee may be a high school arts specialist, teaching artist working with high school students, or an arts professional or educator providing private lessons or instruction. Nominations are submitted by students between the ages of 14-19 who are currently enrolled in high school and competing in that year’s Overture Awards.

The Overture Awards Regional Competitions were held virtually in January 2025. The top thirty percent of competitors in each discipline advanced to the Semi-Finals, which were held at the Aronoff Center from February 12-15, 2025.

Now in its twenty-ninth year, the Overture Awards was launched in 1996 by the Cinergy Foundation (now Duke Energy) and Leadership Cincinnati (a program of the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber). The Overture Awards is funded and administered by the Cincinnati Arts Association and relies on hundreds of volunteers from the community who help raise funds, adjudicate, manage the competitions, and nurture the program.

2025 Overture Award Winners

CREATIVE WRITING:  Evelyn Jeong, grade 9, Talawanda High School
HOMETOWN Oxford, OH – Evelyn has loved reading and writing for as long as she can remember, spending all of her free time reading books and crafting stories that combine her passion for fantasy and mental health. With goals of becoming a clinical psychologist and author, she hopes that all of her tales provide three important things: perspective, critiques of society’s largest problems, and escape from the exhausting rhythms of every day. 

DANCE:  Audrey Zuziak, grade 12, Dixie Heights High School / Strive Dance Collective
HOMETOWN: Independence, KY – Audrey has been dancing since the age of three. She has won numerous awards, received a perfect score on a solo, and was an Overture Awards finalist. She plans to attend college for nursing and become a travel nurse.

INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC:  Angela Tang, grade 10, William Mason High School / Studies with Joel Smirnoff
HOMETOWN: Mason, OH – Angela has been playing the violin for ten years. She is the assistant concertmaster at the CSYO Philharmonic Orchestra and was one of the finalists in the CSYO Concerto Competition. Angela is the state winner of MTNA Competition and Buckeye Audition. She played as a soloist with Blue Ash Montgomery Symphony Orchestra as the winner of the 2024 competition. Outside of music, Angela loves astronomy, creative writing, and photography, and is an active member of her school’s Science Olympiad Team.

THEATER:  Jai’Den Pritchett, grade 10, Sycamore High School / Musical Arts Center
HOMETOWN: Cincinnati, OH – Jai’Den has been a part of musical theatre since he was seven. He studies voice with Mr. Karl Resnick and loves the mentorship and guidance he has received. Jai’Den won the Best Overall Performance award at the 2024 SHS Variety Show. He has been in many shows with Aves Theatre, including Willy Wonka Jr. (Charlie), Footloose: Youth Edition (Ren), Freaky Friday (Ensemble), Guys and Dolls (Sky), the current production of Between the Lines (Prince Oliver/Edgar), and the upcoming Mamma Mia! (Ensemble). He plans to major in Musical Theatre after graduation.

VISUAL ART:  Allison Droege, grade 12, William Mason High School
HOMETOWN: Mason, OH – Allison has been creating art for six years, specifically fine-tuning her main media of alcohol marker and colored pencil for the past year. She has earned a national award from Scholastic as well as five Gold Keys for a portfolio and additional works. She plans on going to college to pursue Mechanical Engineering in the fall.

VOCAL MUSIC:  Eden Bee, grade 12, Turpin High School
HOMETOWN: Cincinnati, Ohio – Eden is a senior at Turpin High school and has been doing musical theatre since elementary school. She loves to sing and act and do musical performances outside of school. She plans to major in musical theatre in college.

2025 Arts educator award RECIPIENT

James Braid, Private Instructor
Discipline:  Instrumental Music
Nominated by Kieran Niska

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The Cincinnati Arts Association is supported [in part] by the Ohio Arts Council, which receives support from the State of Ohio and the National Endowment for the Arts.

The Overture Awards are endowed by The Otto M. Budig Family Foundation.

THANK YOU to the following generous supporters of Dancing for the Stars and The Overture Awards: 

Accent on Cincinnati, The Alleen Company, Scott Allgyer, Arthur Murray – Cincinnati, Arthur Murray – West Chester, Douglas Beal, Doreen Beatrice, James Branham, Bonita Brockert, Sebastian Castillo, Dance Manor, DelightMore, eat well celebrations & feasts, Maura Garuccio, Heidelberg Distributing Company, Jeff Thomas Catering, Alex Johns, Dr. Hali Jungers,  Dr. Magdalena Kerschner, Jeremy Mainous, Moerlein Lager House, Newport Aquarium, Party Source, Pepsi, Philip Bortz Jewelers, Prime Cincinnati, Primo Italian Steakhouse, Punky’s Pixels, Bret Schneider, Deb Schubert, Britton Spitler, Street City Pub, Studio 900,  Zack Thornton, Josh Tilford, Rostislav Toporski, Melissa Vaughn

Chris O’Brien & Janeen Coyle (former hosts of “Married with Microphones,” 103.5 WGRR-FM), JD Hughes (DJ, 103.5 WGRR-FM) 

Overture Scholarship Sponsors:
The Eleanora C.U. Alms Trust, Fifth Third Bank, Trustee; Fort Washington Investment Advisors, Inc.; Otto M. Budig Family Foundation; Summerfair Cincinnati; TriHealth

Printing Sponsor:
Harlan Graphics

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The 2025 Overture Awards Finalists
Winners listed in bold.

CREATIVE WRITING

• Evelyn Jeong, grade 9, Talawanda High School
• Abbey Mader, grade 11, Saint Ursula Academy
• Jai Tate, grade 11, Ohio Connections Academy
• Asher Wesolowski, grade 10, School for Creative and Performing Arts 

DANCE

• Nora Doyle, grade 10, School for Creative and Performing Arts/Just Off Broadway
• Abigail Riester, grade 12, Turpin High School/College Conservatory of Music- Prep Ballet Department and Planet Dance
• Maanasa Yarlagadda, grade 12, Sycamore High School
• Audrey Zuziak, grade 12, Dixie Heights High School/Strive Dance Collective 

INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC

• Beckett Cerón, grade 10, Seven Hills School/Studies with Jeremy Collins
• Vivian Chang, grade 12, William Mason High School/Hong Cheng Violin Studio
• Sonya Moomaw, grade 9, School for Creative and Performing Arts/Studies with Dr. Sarah Kim
• Angela Tang, grade 10, William Mason High School/ Studies with Joel Smirnoff

THEATER

• Jake Hagerty, grade 11, Highlands High School
• Jai’Den Pritchett, grade 10, Sycamore High School/Musical Arts Center
• Clarissa Ramirez, grade 12, Sycamore High School
• Natalie Schmall, grade 10, Ursuline Academy 

VISUAL ART

• Allison Droege, grade 12, William Mason High School
• Nathan Knoll, grade 12, Elder High School
• Faith Ogenyi, grade 12, Lakota East High School
• Andrew Sichak, grade 12, Loveland High School

VOCAL MUSIC

• Eden Bee, grade 12, Turpin High School/Studies
• Ishanvi Karthikeyan, grade 12, Lakota West High School/Studies with Malathy Vijay
• Devi Kool, grade 10, Wyoming High School/Studies with Stacey Sands
• William Wittekind, grade 11, Saint Xavier High School/Studies with Musical Arts Center

Founded in 1992, the Cincinnati Arts Association (CAA) is a not-for-profit organization that oversees the programming and management of two of the Tri-state’s finest performing arts venues – the Aronoff Center for the Arts and Music Hall – and is dedicated to supporting performing and visual arts. Each year, CAA presents a diverse schedule of events; serves upwards of 700,000 people in its venues; features the work of talented local, regional, and national artists in the Weston Art Gallery (located in the Aronoff Center); and supports the work of more than one dozen resident companies. Since the inception of its acclaimed arts education programs in 1995, CAA has reached more than 2.1 million students and adults. 

CAA is proud to be a member of Association of Performing Arts Presenters, Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber, Greater Cincinnati Alliance for Arts Education, Greater Cincinnati Chinese Chamber of Commerce, Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky African American Chamber of Commerce, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, National Organization of Arts in Healthcare, National Guild for Community Arts Education, Over-the-Rhine Chamber of Commerce, and Visit Cincinnati (formerly Cincinnati USA Convention & Visitors Bureau)

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