Bryce Cebula, marketing and communication manager
Growing up, springtime was always synonymous with tryout season. Auditions for the dance team took place right before spring break, and track tryouts kicked off the spring sport season. Now a coach for the dance team I once performed with, spring still means I need to prepare for auditions. However, there’s no shortage of judging in my other professional role, as submissions for the Museum’s flagship exhibition, Birds in Art, are well underway, with the jurying process only a month or so away.
One of my first years at tryouts for the dance team
My first track meet to determine if I made JV or Varsity
To be considered for Birds in Art, artists submit images of the artworks they’ve spent hours, weeks, months, or even years creating. A panel of three jurors, comprised of art world and museum peers from around the country, review each submission independently and scores it. The highest-scoring artworks will be selected for the exhibition, debuting for the public at the Museum on Saturday, September 12, as the 51st iteration of Birds in Art.
This graph shows the progress of this year’s Birds in Art submissions
What a submission looks like once it is submitted. Tyler Vouros, Mist & Memory, 2025, charcoal, shellac, and oil on clay board
Dance team auditions work similarly. Athletes prepare their skills, learn a routine, and practice for weeks before the final audition. Dancers perform in front of a panel of six judges. Their scores are determined by their ability to meet certain performance criteria and their potential to contribute to a cohesive team environment. Once the judges’ scores are added together, we determine who makes the team based on where we see the greatest separation in total score.
Screenshot of the dance team’s scoresheet for tryouts
When viewed from a judge’s perspective, dance team auditions start to feel a little less like judgment and a little more like curation. We are not only asking, “Who is the best dancer?” We are asking, “What kind of team are we able to create?”
When the process works well, the results feel like walking through a beautifully curated exhibition. While individual work can be judged on its own based on its strength, its real value comes from how it adds to the collective to create something magical.
