The chairs ran out.
It was the first sign of what the evening would become. And it was thrilling.
Parents. Grandparents. Siblings. Friends. Teachers. And the young artists themselves, proud of work that had earned its place inside one of Saint Paul’s most beloved landmarks. Three hundred and twenty people filled Landmark Center in downtown Saint Paul until there wasn’t a seat left, so staff quickly brought in more chairs. Then MORE CHAIRS.
This was the fifth annual COMPAS Emerging Young Artists (EYA) Award Show.
And it was the biggest, most electric year yet.
Photo: EYA attendees and chairs
EYA supports young visual artists across Saint Paul and the East Metro through school-based residencies with professional Teaching Artists from the COMPAS roster. Students are introduced to techniques and creative processes not typically available in standard visual arts programs. Selected works are then exhibited in a juried gallery setting, reviewed by professional artists who provide constructive feedback, and recognized with awards.
But no description of EYA captures what it actually feels like to be in that room, or that gallery, and to be a young artist. See for yourself.
These young artists are 12 and 13 and 16 and 17. They ride the bus and stress about grades and work jobs after school, and they carry the weight of a world that moves fast and asks a lot of them. But they also do this other thing. This brave, stubborn, necessary thing. They make art. They take what is living inside them, the joy, the grief, the rage, the tenderness, the confusion, the laughter, and they make it something the rest of us can feel.
And on April 16th, people they had never met walked up to their artwork and stopped. And looked. And felt something.
Imagine what that means to a young artist.
To have someone you don’t know stop in front of something you made and actually feel the emotions and insights behind it. Then, to have your parents, or your grandmother, your best friend, or your teacher stand in front of that same work and see you, fully, as the artist they always knew you were. And to have the media amplify your work and your talent to the world.
It rewires something. Because when people who love you and people who have never met you are moved by the same thing, there is no arguing with that. You are an artist. You have always been an artist. And the world is better for it.
This year, 122 young artists from 24 schools across Saint Paul and the East Metro submitted 290 original works for the Emerging Young Artists show.
From that extraordinary pool, seventy-five pieces earned their place in the juried gallery exhibition. Every exhibiting artist received a Blick Art Materials gift card to help them keep creating, and more than $9,000 in awards was distributed at the award show.
The evening opened with remarks from COMPAS Principal Teaching Artist Frank Sentwali and Board Member Ryan Kopperud, two artists who know firsthand what it means to find your creative voice, and whose passion for the work lit up the room.
Pictured: Frank (left). Ryan (right).
And then came the number that changed everything!
Lisa Hiebert and Anneke Schultz, board trustees of the Saint Paul Jaycees Charitable Foundation, took to the stage and announced a $350,000 gift to COMPAS that will support the Emerging Young Artists program for years, perhaps DECADES to come!
The room went quiet in that particular way that only happens when something genuinely historic is unfolding in real time. Then it erupted into a standing ovation.
Photo: Lisa Hiebert (foreground. Anneke Schultz (background)
A gift rooted in legacy.
This gift has deep roots. When JCI Saint Paul closed in 2020 after 91 years of serving this community, it entrusted COMPAS with carrying forward its beloved Les Farrington Best 100 Juried Art Show. EYA is that tradition, honored and expanded. And now, thanks to the Foundation’s extraordinary generosity, it will continue to grow.
The Foundation made clear that this gift was about honoring a century of community investment by doubling down on the next generation. And what does that look like in practice?
It looks like a kid who just heard their name called, walking across a stage to shake someone’s hand in front of people who love them, receiving an award for the art they made.
It looks like a room where young people are not invisible. Where their inner lives are not inconvenient, their emotions not too big, their dreams not impractical.
And teachers who have shown up for these kids every single day, who encouraged them and believed in them, get to see what that belief makes possible.
The Truth in the Room
The gallery at Landmark is filled with truth. In their work, the young artists tackle racism, mental health, identity, belonging, and world affairs, not because they were assigned those topics, but because those were the things living inside them, demanding to be seen. And since the exhibition opened on April 2nd, visitors have reached out to COMPAS to express how stunned they were by the level of talent on display.
That is not surprising.
Art speaks from heart to heart. It is the language of the spirit. And when young people are given the space, the tools, and the encouragement to express it, what comes out is something true that the rest of us desperately need to hear.
The amazing 2026 Emerging Young Artists
Come See It For Yourself
The exhibition is free and open to the public at Landmark Center (75 W 5th St, Saint Paul, MN 55102) through May 7, 2026.
Monday through Friday: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Saturday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Sunday: Noon to 5 p.m.
Walk through slowly. Let the work land. Stand in front of something that stops you and take it in. That is exactly what these young artists hoped you would do.
And if you believe, as we do, that every young person deserves the chance to discover what they are capable of creating, consider supporting COMPAS and the work we do every day to put creativity in the hands of young people across Minnesota.
These young artists have something to show the world.
Go see it.
Weren’t at the award show? Check out this gallery of images.
Photos by Anne Hendrickson
Read more stories about our work to put creativity in the hands of millions of Minnesotans here.
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