To celebrate the upcoming 2025 Cliburn Competition (May 21–June 7), see original Cliburn artwork from Fort Worth ISD students along downtown’s Main Street and catch 2025 competitors in free concerts at public libraries before they perform in the Preliminary Round.
Two favorite initiatives return for the 2025 Cliburn Competition: the student-created painted banners, adorning Houston and Main Streets in downtown Fort Worth; and the Adopt-A-Competitor series, featuring free concerts from 2025 competitors at the Fort Worth, Burleson, and Euless Public Libraries.
The banners and Adopt-A-Competitor concerts celebrate the Seventeenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, taking place May 21–June 7, 2025, at Van Cliburn Concert Hall at TCU and Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth, Texas, USA.
1) Student Banner Program: Now and through the end of the Competition, downtown Fort Worth is filled with original, Cliburn-themed artwork from the students of Fort Worth Independent School District; more than 75 of these banners now hang along Houston and Main Streets. “Walking down the streets of our city and seeing the brilliance of our artists and their creativity brings a sense of pride and beauty that all of the teachers and students deserve,” said Ebony Johnson, the Fort Worth ISD visual arts coordinator who led the program. “The unification of the arts is something we all as a community need to embrace, support, and acknowledge.”
2) Adopt-A-Competitor: Twelve of this year’s Cliburn competitors will visit public libraries May 16–18 in Fort Worth, Burleson, and Euless for free concerts. Hailing from China, Germany, Italy, Israel, Russia, South Korea, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States, these pianists are coming to Fort Worth to play for the North Texas community and fans of the upcoming Competition before they head to the Preliminary Round.
See below and visit cliburn.org to learn more about these initiatives and the 2025 Cliburn Competition.
o design the Cliburn banners, the Fort Worth ISD selected Visual Arts programs from 20 schools to participate. Educators were then provided with literature and video footage about Van Cliburn, his contributions to music, and his legacy. As teachers engaged students with this year’s Visual Arts theme, “Art through the Lens of Music and Fashion,” students were able to discover the similarities between art and music, such as rhythm, mood, tone, and pattern. These fundamentals are just a few building blocks of both disciplines. From there, student artists designed individually and as class groups to develop their concepts. Campus programs voted on their favorite designs, and students produced the final version of each banner.
PARTICIPATING SCHOOLS
Burton Hill Elementary School
Mary Louise Phillips Elementary School
Ridglea Hills Elementary School
Rolling Hills Elementary School
Westpark Elementary School
Natha Howell Elementary School
Carter Park Elementary School
Clifford Davis Elementary School
Manuel Jara Elementary School
Sam Rosen Elementary School
Alice E. Carlson Elementary School
Lily B. Clayton Elementary School
Overton Park Elementary School
Tanglewood Elementary School
Daggett Montessori School
Eastern Hills Elementary School
Morningside Elementary School
Sagamore Hill Elementary School
T. A. Sims Elementary School
Van Zandt-Guinn Elementary School
William Monnig Middle School
W. C. Stripling Middle School
Leonard Middle School
Kirkpatrick Middle School
Riverside Middle School
Young Women’s Leadership Academy
W. P. McLean Middle School
J. Martin Jacquet Middle School
Rosemont Middle School
William James Middle School
Arlington Heights High School
Western Hills High School
North Side High School
O. D. Wyatt High School
R. L. Paschal High School
Diamond Hill-Jarvis High School
Young Men’s Leadership Academy
Polytechnic High School
South Hills High School
I. M. Terrell Academy for STEM and VPA
