2nd Annual St. Louis Teen Talent Showcase Competition Set for the Fox Stage, 4/27

The 2nd Annual St. Louis Teen Talent Showcase Competition gets underway March 10-11 when 119 acts will take the stage in the preliminary round of competition (a complete list of students/schools can be found here). "We are excited to see so many student acts register for our 2nd Annual St. Louis Teen Talent Showcase Competition. This year we are offering even more prizes and scholarship opportunities for participating students. We hope all St. Louisans will come out and support our talented teens for the final competition on Friday, April 27, 2012 at the Fabulous Fox. It's a great opportunity for the whole family to see great talent on the Fox stage FREE OF CHARGE." says Mary Strauss, President of Fox Performing Arts Charitable Foundation Board of Directors.

The Fox Performing Arts Charitable Foundation (FPACF) created this competition to showcase the St. Louis region's most talented teens in the performing arts. Student acts include singers, dancers, actors, musicians, comedians, circus arts performers, etc.

This year we are pleased to see so many entrants from the bi-state metropolitan area including many familiar faces from last year. Contestants' stories will again be chronicled through The Nine Network's "Our Story" program, which supplies students with Flip cameras to document their journey through this process. These videos will be available on our own channel graciously donated by SchoolTube.com. The 2011 stories currently posted provide the viewer a glimpse at what is in store this year.

Judges for the 2012 preliminary rounds include an impressive cross section of professionals from the St. Louis performing arts community. New additions this year include Robbie Montgomery (owner of Sweetie Pie's, star of OWN reality series and former back up singer for Ike and Tina Turner) and Anthony "Redd" Williams (choreographer who has worked with Nelly, P Diddy, and Lady Gaga). A complete list of preliminary judges with photos and bios can be found on the FPACF website.

The two day preliminary round of competition will narrow the field to approximately 30 acts. These acts will then compete in the semi-finals where the final 12 acts will be chosen to compete at The Fox on Friday, April 27, 2012. Students are competing for scholarships and prizes as well as the opportunity to perform at area events throughout the year. Last year finalists showcased their talents at The Muny, Six Flags, the Shakespeare Festival, Webster's Art & Air Show and Dancing in the Street & First Night St. Louis in Grand Center.

Complete guidelines and information about the 2nd Annual 2012 St. Louis Teen Talent Showcase Competition can be found on the Foundation's website as well as on the FPACF Facebook page. Important dates for this year's showcase are:

Preliminary Rounds of Competition: March 10 and 11th, 2012
Semi-final Round of Competition: March 31, 2012
Final Competition on stage at The Fox: April 27, 2012

The great community response to the 1st St. Louis Teen Talent Showcase was evidenced by a sold out crowd at The Fox and the approximate 75,000 additional viewers who tuned in to The Nine Network's hour-long program on the event. Highlights of last year's event and Micah Garrido's winning performance from the 2011 Showcase can be seen on our YouTube page. We are pleased to announce that The Nine Network will once again broadcast an hour-long program on the 2012 competition.