Chris Young Donates Time & Money To Support Young Artists

Chris Young was the special guest for the Nashville School of the Arts’ latest installment of its “NSA Presents” events on Monday September 8. The event coincided with the annual YoungArts Awareness Day, a nationwide, one-day initiative to “keep arts alive,” by “celebrating the hundreds of thousands of young artists across the country and encouraging them to pursue a career in the arts.”

Produced by the students and moderated by local radio personality, Well Adams, the “NSA Presents” program, is done in a format similar to James Lipton’s Inside The Actors Studio. During the session, Young shared insights into his successful career and discussed how music education had a significant impact on his artistic path.

Caught up to backstage prior to the event, Young, a YoungArts alumni and US Presidential Scholars in the Arts recipient, expressed his happiness to be at the event. “For me, arts awareness is one of the first things that gets pushed aside. But the arts are such a big growth area for kids, whether they want a career in it or not. And they don’t know until they are exposed to it and have a chance to find out. It’s something I’m very passionate about.”

As a special gift to the students, Young surprised the zealous crowd at the opening of the Q&A session with a $30,000 donation to help fund improvements to the school’s auditorium.

NSA is the only arts magnet high school within Metro Nashville Public Schools, offering its students the “rare combination of rigorous, college preparatory curriculum instructed with intensely focused instruction in the performing or visual arts.”