Position Summary
Do you have a passion for bringing people together through live music and art? Get involved in the performing arts at Maryland and join the NextNOW Fest team! Clarice Presents is looking for Artistic Planning Fellows for NextNOW Fest 2025. Fellows are responsible for collaborating with Clarice professional staff to design a student-focused festival experience and assist in the creation of a student-focused promotional strategy.
About NextNOW Fest
Held each September at The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, NextNOW Fest is an annual campus tradition that celebrates imagination, creativity and community. Started in 2014, the multi-day, multi-arts festival of fun and discovery features about 50 music, theatre, and dance performances, as well as comedy, film, immersive media installations and other artistic experiences over two nights. By amplifying the voices of intriguing, inventive artists from around campus and the country, NextNOW Fest creates a forward-looking microcosm where art transforms and shapes our future.
With an attendance of about 6,000, NextNOW Fest provides an exciting environment for students to build community, socialize with each other and engage with the arts on campus at the beginning of the school year. By offering memorable artistic experiences for students, NextNOW Fest hopes to inspire involvement in creativity and the arts throughout their time at UMD and beyond, regardless of their major or focus of study.
NextNOW Fest is a signature event in University of Maryland's Arts for All initiative, which leverages the combined power of the arts, technology and social justice to address the grand challenges of our time. NextNOW Fest is also a part of Terps After Dark, an initiative by the UMD Division of Student Affairs that supports late-night, alcohol-free, on-campus programming during the first six weeks of the fall semester. The festival will continue to build upon partnerships with student-led groups, academic departments, and off-campus organizations to hold festival events at sites throughout campus and into College Park.
NextNOW Fest 2025 marks the festival’s twelfth year. NextNOW Fest is presented and produced by Clarice Presents and is co-curated in partnership with students and campus departments. All festival planning and execution is supported by staff of The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center.
The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center
The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center - or "The Clarice" - is the innovative and collaborative home for UMD's School of Music (SOM); the School of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies (TDPS); and the Clarice's own artistic platform, Clarice Presents, as well as The Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library (MSPAL). For nearly 25 years, The Clarice has leveraged the powerful resources of the University to inspire and support the voices and actions of artists, students and the greater Maryland community with inter-organizational and community engagement, applied scholarship and creative innovation.
Clarice Presents
Clarice Presents is the artistic platform of The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, daring to envision a new role for the performing arts to play on campus and throughout its community. Through onstage performances, digital accessibility and engagement, civic action and community programs, Clarice Presents captivates and innovates while helping to address the grand challenges of our time.
NextNOW Fest’s programming, planning and operations seek to embody the following values:
- Everyone is creative. Creativity doesn’t discriminate across race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, socioeconomic status or field of study: Everyone has the inherent capacity and right to be creative.
- Discovery is exciting. It’s worth taking the chance on something new, because you never know what you might end up loving.
- Stories are valuable. Stories allow us to learn about ourselves and how we relate to each other and the world. By listening to each others’ stories, we can find common ground and create a community of respect across differences.
- We are all connected. It’s important to be aware of how our individual actions and decisions affect the sustainability and longevity of the resources we use, the spaces we inhabit and the communities to which we belong.
- You are enough. While we are all constantly learning and growing, you already carry a lifetime of experience and knowledge with you. You are ready to create and experience art, just as you are.
Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of this internship:
- Fellows will gain a larger understanding of the arts management field and performing arts industry
- Fellows will understand the roles of different departments within a performing arts center, and how these departments work together to produce and present events
- Fellows will gain experience creating, developing, and implementing a large-scale festival event with a format that reflects industry best practices, including health and safety requirements
- Fellows will gain experience working with on-campus artists and organizations through building partnerships and forming written agreements
- Fellows will gain experience working in an office environment (virtual and/or in-person as necessary) with a full-time professional staff and part-time student peers
Key Responsibilities
- Collaborate with Artistic Programming staff to curate an organized schedule of in-person and/or virtual artistic experiences for NextNOW Fest in early/mid September 2025
- Build partnerships with UMD student-focused organizations to present events at the festival
- Research external and community-based artists to present at the festival
- Collaborate with The Clarice’s Operations team on event production, including communication of logistical details and setting of venue and artist expectations
- Collaborate with ARHU Marketing & Communications team and NextNOW Fest student staff to inform the creation of a brand identity for the festival that is translated amongst promotional materials and the festival experience
- Collaborate with ARHU Marketing & Communications team and NextNOW Fest student staff to create and implement a work plan of effective grassroots, digital and other marketing strategies to promote the festival to UMD students
- Draft event descriptions and other copy for marketing and promotions purposes
- Serve on the festival operations team as on-site producers during the festival
- Be involved in the debrief and review process following the competition of the festival
- Be involved in the interview and onboarding process for incoming NextNOW Fest 2025 Artistic Planning Fellows
- Be involved with other Artistic Planning department initiatives and programs as mutually determined and agreed
Dates and Stipend
Interns must commit to the project from January through October 2025. A total honorarium of $1,500.00 USD will be awarded in intervals throughout the commitment:
Spring 2025 Semester (January-May 2025)
$500.00 awarded in May 2025 upon completion of satisfactory work, including the following deliverables & involvement:
- Participation in and share leadership of weekly programming and marketing meetings
- Submission of journal entries to track process and progress
- Clearly articulated vision for the impact of NextNOW Fest 2025
- Finalized festival schedule in collaboration with UMD student-focused organizations and Clarice Artistic Planning staff
- Involvement in the creation and implementation of the festival marketing work plan in collaboration with The Clarice’s Marketing & Communications team
- Involvement in the creation of the festival’s brand identity in collaboration with The Clarice’s Marketing & Communications team
Summer 2025 Semester (June-August 2025)
$500.00 awarded in August 2025 upon completion of satisfactory work, including the following deliverables:
- Participation in and share leadership of weekly programming and marketing meetings
- Submission of journal entries to track process and progress
- Aid in ongoing logistical preparations
- Creation of written agreements with artists and organizations
- Gathering of artist and event descriptions and other content for marketing purposes
- Continued involvement in the ongoing development and implementation of the festival marketing work plan
Fall 2025 Semester (September-October 2025)
$500.00 awarded in October 2025, after the festival and upon completion of satisfactory work, including the following deliverables:
- Participation in and share leadership of weekly programming and marketing meetings
- Submission of journal entries to track process and progress
- Continued involvement in the ongoing development and implementation of the festival marketing work plan
- Aid in logistical preparations
- Serve as on-site event producers at festival events
- Participate in debrief meetings following the festival
Qualifications
Minimum
- Must be enrolled as a full-time undergraduate student at UMD through the Fall 2025 semester (applicants who will graduate before Fall 2025 cannot be considered)
- Must be available to work on-site (if there are in-person events) on the days of NextNOW Fest
- Interest in learning about the curatorial and production process in the performing arts
- Enthusiasm for the festival’s values and creating community and meaningful connections through shared arts experiences
- Enthusiasm for collaborating with partners on creative projects
- Strong organizational and time-management skills; ability to adhere to deadlines
- Strong attention to detail
- Strong written and verbal communication skills
- Responsiveness, dependability and flexibility
Preferred
- Interest in exploring arts management as a career
- Past participation in and attendance of arts events
- Experience in event production and management
- Experience or interest in an on-camera presence, especially for virtual events
- Demonstrated leadership experience
How to Apply
Submit the application form below by Sunday, November 24, 2024 at 11:59PM ET. Please attach a resume in the Attachments field. If you have any questions about NextNOW Fest or the Artistic Planning Fellow positions, please contact Tyler Clifford at tylerc@umd.edu.