Emerging Creatives Showcase uplifts and encourages diverse perspectives: USITT 2024 Elevates New Voices

Emerging Creatives Showcase uplifts
and encourages diverse perspectives
USITT 2024 Elevates
BY RAFAEL JAEN
22 | THEATRE DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY | ISSUE 3, 2024
uring the early hours of
the USITT Conference
& Stage Expo setup each
year, spaces fill with anticipation
and excitement.
One of these areas, the Emerging
Creatives Showcase (ECS), brews with
innovation. This annual juried exhibition,
formerly known as the Young Designers
and Technicians Forum, is a stand-alone
juried showcase for undergraduate seniors,
graduate students, and early career
professionals. In its new format, the
showcase consists of a themed exhibition
that changes annually, highlighting
works by underrepresented populations
in our industry. The invited adjudicators
also represent different populations and
disciplines, mirroring the applicants.
This year’s Emerging Creatives
Showcase including a great variety
of voices and approaches. Thanks to
USITT’s ability to provide safe and inspiring
spaces, ECS creatives engaged
in productive conversations with visitors
and adjudicators. By choosing how to
identify themselves in terms of their art
and individuality, describing their multifaceted
approaches and the nature of
their art quests, and sharing advice and
career goals, the Showcase embraced diverse
experiences, uplifting and encouraging
multiple perspectives.