On Wednesday, June 18, Bob Lynch and other members of Americans for the Arts' staff joined The Art Institutes for their Congressional Arts Reception honoring this year's Annual Poster Design Competition winners. This year's winners are Ameila Kohr who will be attending the Art Institue of Las Vegas, Madeleine Brackett who will be attending The New England Institue of Art, and first-place winner Ashley Devaney, who will be attending The Art Insititue of Charleston. 

Every year, high school seniors and graduates from across the United States and Canada compete for scholarships to the Art Institues system of schools by submitting poster designs around a specified theme. Grand prize winners receive full tuition, quarter tuition, or $10,000 towards their tuition at Art Institutions. Americans for the Arts has partnered with the Art Institutes on this Poster Competition for over a decade. Each contestant has to incorporate the Art Institutes logo and Americans for the Arts' logo into their final design.

As Bob Lynch, Americans for the Arts CEO and President, said at the Congressional Arts Reception on the 18th, "It is programs like this design contest that help members of Congress and other political and community leaders understand the importance of the arts in education and in our lives." Congressman Bobby Scott, Congressman Danny Davis, and Congressman Joe Garcia spoke at the Reception. Reps. Patrick Murphy, Alcee Hastings, Tony Cárdenas, and Al Green also were in attendence.

Bob Lynch closed by saying "congratulations to our winners and everyone to who took the time to create thought-provoking and original art work for this competition. It reminds us all that this country is strong and its future is bright."

As Congressman Davis stated, "let's keep arts education in all of our education endeavors."

Check out our photos and video clips of the winners from the Congressional Arts Reception on Instagram!