LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Over 100,000 students across Clark County submitted artwork in the inaugural Sphere XO Student Design Challenge.
Eight winners were selected while another eight designs were chosen as honorable mentions. The students' artwork will be displayed and featured on the Exosphere this summer.
WATCH: Las Vegas students have their artwork displayed on the Exosphere
If your student wasn't selected this year, Jim Dolan, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Sphere Entertainment, said they'll get another chance and the challenge will be back next year.
"Hopefully, what we're doing is inspiring them to study science and math. Math is a big piece," Dolan said. "We are proud that through the XO Student Design Challenge, we were able to leverage Sphere's technology and use this digital canvas to further artistic expression from Las Vegas' student artists. Congratulations to all the winners, and we hope audiences around the world are inspired by their creativity."
I also spoke with Jen Koester, the President and Chief Operating Officer of Sphere. She said the company had been looking for ways to give back to the Las Vegas community and the design challenge seemed like a perfect fit.
"If we think about the history behind Sphere, it's always been about innovation and it's always been about the intersection of art and science. To find an opportunity to bring that to the community was really a lot of the thinking behind this," Koester told me. "Vegas has been such a great place for us to launch our first Sphere. We can come and give back to the community and really inspire the youth of the world to think about art and science with the chance to get it on the biggest canvas in the world."
Koester also mentioned it was fun to see the older students use virtual reality to bring their designs to life.
WATCH: UNLV, CCSD students use VR to create art submissions for Sphere challenge
"I can't wait to see their faces light up when their work lights up on the Sphere," Koester said.
One of the winners was Legacy High School student Alicia Valle. She told me she couldn't believe she was chosen.
"I was so happy that I cried. I'm so grateful that I can even have this opportunity to be here and win and have this experience," Valle said. "It's honestly unreal to me. It's crazy and I'm so grateful and happy about it."
Winning high school and college students received a $10,000 scholarship while winning elementary and middle school students earned a $10,000 donation for their school's art program as well as tickets for their entire school to attend The Sphere Experience this fall.
In addition to the students seeing their artwork on the Exosphere, Sphere also introduced a new livestream on their website, Exosphere audio, and drones that will have coordinated displays.
"I think that multi-sensory hit, similar to what you feel when you get inside the venue, you're going to get a little of that on the outside now. The audio is really intended to be synced with the creative on the Exosphere. It's another way we're illuminating the senses and bringing it to life," Koester said. "We have some original content that is created by Sphere Studios. We also have some famous music that we're bringing forward. There's no bounds to what we can do on the innovation side. This is the world's most immersive experience and we're going to continue to push boundaries, bring all of that immersive nature that exists inside on the media plane and the bowl to the Exosphere and this is just the start of it."
And after one year of Sphere, I asked Dolan what his reaction has been to the venue's success.
"I'm really happy with how it's gone. There are some things that surprised me. The public's reaction to it really surprised us a year ago. We were like well, we're going to turn this thing on. I hope people look at it. Well, we didn't have that problem," Dolan said. "All the ideas, all the artists, and the medium itself is continuing to progress so that's really kind of what I've been focusing on, what the team has been focusing on. We didn't want to just open it up and go, here it is. That's it. We want it to keep changing, keep evolving, keep getting better, and more interesting."
WATCH: Full Sphere Fourth of July show with drones, audio
