[Photo courtesy of PUSD ARTS]
No Boundaries 21, the district’s annual student art exhibition, opens March 13 as one of 19 official venues for the citywide cultural event. It is the 21st consecutive year PUSD has mounted the exhibition, which the district describes as a showcase of student creativity that highlights the diversity of the PUSD community and demonstrates what the district calls “the healing and transformative power of the arts.” The exhibition is free.
The show features work by students from Transitional Kindergarten through 12th grade in a range of mediums. Live music by Staff Lounge, a band made up of PUSD music teachers, and student performances will accompany the opening, funded by a City of Pasadena MiniGrant through the Arts and Culture Commission.
The exhibition began in 2006, initiated by PUSD’s District Art Team and Community Art Team, according to Side Street Projects, a partner arts organization. It has been held in public venues — not school buildings — since its early years, a deliberate choice to place student work in civic space. In 2019, the 14th edition featured 300 artworks from all 28 district schools at the time.
PUSD, which serves about 14,000 students across Pasadena, Altadena, and Sierra Madre, identifies itself as an “Arts Equity District,” according to its Arts Education department. The district offers PreK-12 instruction in visual arts, music, dance, and drama. Karen Anderson, the district’s Arts & Enrichment Coordinator, has said in prior interviews that the talent in PUSD schools “deserves a second look — or even a first look,” and that it is important “to celebrate the diversity and creativity and talent of our students.”
ArtNight Pasadena, produced by the City of Pasadena’s Cultural Affairs Division, takes place twice a year and offers free admission to cultural venues citywide from 6 to 10 p.m. The spring 2026 edition includes programming at 19 venues, from the Norton Simon Museum’s renovated sculpture garden to Makoto Taiko drumming at the Shumei Arts Council. Free shuttles, including wheelchair-accessible buses, run between venues.
No Boundaries 21 opens Friday, March 13, 2026, from 6 to 10 p.m. at the Paseo Colorado, 300 E. Colorado Blvd., Suite 159 and 161, Pasadena. Admission is free. For exhibition details, visit pusd.us/arts or call (626) 396-3600. For ArtNight Pasadena information, visit ArtNightPasadena.org or call the hotline at (626) 744-7887.
The exhibition’s 21-year run makes it one of the more durable features of ArtNight’s lineup — and, for the students whose work fills the gallery, one of the few evenings a year when their art shares a stage with Rembrandt and Picasso.
Opening: No Boundaries. Friday, March 13, 2026 at All day Event Cost: Free. For more information call: 626-396-3600. Or click here:https://www.pusd.us/departments/arts-education/visual-arts-education/
