What is Fine Arts Festival?

Fine Arts Festival is a discipleship tool of NCN Student Ministries designed to help students discover, develop and deploy their ministry gifts. This is done by providing a space where Jr. High and High School students can perform or exhibit their talents and art to qualified adjudicators who will then provide constructive feedback for students. Students will also have the opportunity to receive an invitation to the National Fine Arts Festival where they can compete for scholarships and receive even more feedback to help develop their talents for ministry. More details about National Fine Arts below.

New To 2025-2026 NCN District Fine Arts

We’re excited to roll out several major updates for our NCN Fine Arts Festival in 2025-2026, designed to better serve our students and bring the focus back to what matters most — using their God-given talents to advance the Gospel.

First off, our purpose hasn’t changed. Fine Arts isn’t about performing — it’s about discipleship. We want to help your students discover, develop, and deploy their gifts to lead others toward Christ.

However, there are significant changes to the way our Fine Arts program will look and function this year. We are launching a brand new initial phase to our Fine Arts program in the form of a digital submission window.

In the past, we have dealt with two significant challenges with regards to our Fine Arts festivals. 

#1. Location : Being such a large district, attempting to accommodate everyone who wants to participate in our Fine Arts programs has been a challenge. Some churches have had to either pay for a hotel the night before, or get up and leave very early in the morning, which is not the most conducive circumstances for a student who is trying to present their talents at their best.

#2. Timing/Availability : This piece hits for both the students and for our evaluators. Our district encompasses many school districts that have spring breaks at different times, which is a prime time for many vacations. Combine this with trying to recruit the quality and amount of evaluators needed to have a successful and impactful event, and it shows that timing has always been a contributing factor to our events numbers.

Now, while we aren’t concerned with numbers for numbers sake, we do want to ensure that any student that would like to participate in Fine Arts has the opportunity to.

This new format helps to avoid both of these concerns. Here is the breakdown of what Fine Arts will look like for the 2025-2026 season.

PHASE 1 : DIGITAL SUBMISSIONS

Registration will open on September 1st, 2025 and will remain open until December 1st, 2025. Registration is a mere $10 for the first category and $5 for each additional category.

Upon receipt of registration, an email will be sent out with guidelines for the digital submissions and a link to upload those submissions. Groups are encouraged to record the presentations together in a live setting if possible. This can be as a part of your youth service, sunday service, or even a special Fine Arts event in your church. It can be all at once or spread out over time. However, please make sure that you follow all the instructions provided in your confirmation email. The presentation must be live, and be the first and only official recording of the presentation. We ask for everyone to exercise integrity and honor the process. It is not the best of 3 takes, if a student stumbles, there are no do-overs for any reason, just as it would be in a live Fine Arts scenario.  

As submissions are received, they will be assigned to our highly qualified evaluators to provide extensive coaching and official scoring for the presentation. 

NOTE : This process also gives us the opportunity to correct for our most frequent complaint, which is the limited feedback from evaluators. Due to time constraints in a live festival environment, there has never been an adequate window between presentations for evaluators to elaborate on their comments. This process will provide a greater opportunity for more detailed coaching.

Once the evaluations are completed, a final email will be sent providing the student with their scores and their feedback.

There will be a window for appeal, as there has been in the past, but this will be much simpler as the Fine Arts Coordinator will already have access to the scores, comments, and presentations to provide the necessary review and response. 

NOTE : Any student that receives Superior with Invitation in Phase 1, is not required to participate in Phase 2 in order to present at National Fine Arts next July in St. Louis.

PHASE 2 : SHOWCASE

On December 15th, the submission window will close and our evaluators will finalize all of their feedback. At this point, anyone who has received an Excellent or Superior score will be invited to participate in our Showcase. This event will serve as our in person celebration of the Fine Arts season and will give family and friends an opportunity to watch and support their students. Depending on the number of those receiving an invitation, multiple showcases may be set up to accommodate a larger number. The Showcase currently scheduled will take place in Sacramento on March 21st, 2026. There will be separate registration for those participating in the Showcase. That link will be sent with the invitation for the student to participate.

NOTE : If it is deemed necessary due to time restraints, a student that qualifies in multiple categories, may be asked to select one to highlight at the showcase.  

We appreciate your support in this new season of Fine Arts for our District and we look forward to increased involvement as we strive to make our resources and events more accessible to the many spread-out churches of our great Northern California and Nevada District!