The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival

BARBIZON AWARDS FOR THEATRICAL DESIGN EXCELLENCE

in Scenery, Costumes, and Lighting

The Barbizon Awards for Theatrical Design Excellence are sponsored by Barbizon Inc., a premier theatrical supply house specializing in advanced lighting for professionals.

The purpose of the Barbizon Awards for Theatrical Design Excellence is to provide student designers with feedback from professionals working in the field; to give outstanding student designers national recognition; and to provide the opportunity for student designers to exhibit their work at the Kennedy Center . Designs will be appraised on the basis of quality, effectiveness, originality, and rendering techniques.

Students who have designed any aspect (scenery, costumes, or lighting) of a KCACTF associate or participating entry are eligible for the Barbizon Awards for Theatrical Design Excellence. Entering schools will, at the time of registration with the Kennedy Center and Regional Chair, inform the Regional Chair of any student designers in one or more of the three design categories and will request a KCACTF respondent.

Please be sure to provide contact information, including email, for all student designers.

Student designers will be notified of their selection for the regional design exhibition, as a regional Barbizon nominee, according to the procedures of their region: at the time of the initial KCACTF response; by the Regional Chair; or at the announcement of the productions chosen for the regional festival.

At the regional festival guest designers will respond to the projects of regional Barbizon nominees who are present; they will select one winner in each area (scenery, costumes, and lighting) from the regional design entries; such regional winners are therefore national Barbizon finalists. Barbizon, Inc. will provide such regional Barbizon winners (national Barbizon finalists) with one year's student membership in The United States Institute for Theatre Technology (U.S.I.T.T.), for the year in which the award is given. National Barbizon finalists are also invited to display their designs at the annual U.S.I.T.T. National Conference in the spring. Specific information shall be given to each of the regional winners at the conclusion of their respective regional festival.

Designs of the national Barbizon finalists will be on display during the KCACTF national festival in Washington , D.C. , and will be returned to the designers immediately following it. A single national winner in each area (scenery, costumes, and lighting) will be selected from the national Barbizon finalists by the national design respondents during the national festival.

National Barbizon finalists are eligible for several awards that will be given during the national festival. Examples of some are as follows:

• National Barbizon winners: one student in each area (scenery, costumes, and lighting) may be invited to attend the Ming Cho Lee “Clambake”, usually held Memorial Day weekend at the Lincoln Center , NYC.

• National Barbizon Fellows: scene and costume designers may be invited to attend the Kennedy Center 's Summer Intensives in Design Collaboration (normally the first two weeks in July). The fellowship awards participation in the Summer Intensives and includes a full tuition grant, per diem, shared lodging, all materials, and travel.

• National Barbizon Fellow in Lighting: lighting designer may be awarded a full scholarship to participate in the O'Neill National Playwrights' Conference.
• NAPAT Design Award: One designer, regardless of area, may be selected by representatives of the National Partners of the American Theatre. The recipient shall receive a week-long fellowship with the Korean based KANUA, fully funded by NAPAT.
• The college or university attended by each of the national Barbizon winners will receive a Lightbox Portfolio Series DMX (www.seeLightbox.com) in recognition of their support and mentoring of a national Barbizon winner. The award is given in the name of the student's mentor.
• USITT's publication, Theatre Design And Technology, will publish information on the winners of the national Barbizon awards.

General Information on the Barbizon Design Awards:

Student designers may be selected to attend their regional festival as regional Barbizon nominees regardless of whether the production itself is selected for the regional festival. Regional Barbizon nominees must attend their regional festival, and display their designs, in order to be eligible for nomination to the National Barbizon Awards.

The designer is responsible for developing a suitable method of shipping their design to and from the regional festival, including providing the appropriate mailing and insurance charges.

Should they become a national Barbizon finalist, the designer is also responsible for shipping their design to and from the national festival, including providing the appropriate mailing and insurance charges.

Each regional festival will include a design workshop.

A guest designer, or designers, will respond to the work of all regional Barbizon nominees who are present at their regional festival, in a public forum. One regional Barbizon winner (national Barbizon finalist) will be selected in each area (scenery, costumes, and lighting). The selection of national Barbizon finalists shall include the guest design respondent/s; the selection process may include other guest respondents as determined by the regional design & technology chair.

One regional Barbizon winner – a national Barbizon finalist – in each area (scenery, costumes, and lighting) will be announced at the regional festival. National Barbizon finalists will be invited to exhibit their design display, and will attend, the national festival in Washington , D.C in April.

KCACTF will provide national Barbizon finalists with travel, shared hotel accommodations and per diem for the period of national festival (normally Tuesday through Saturday). Attendance at the national festival is not mandatory; however, many of the awards mentioned above are determined by a student's work and participation in workshops and master classes while at the national festival. Faculty mentors will be allowed to observe the national design response session on a space available basis; they are not able to observe other workshops or master classes held during the national festival week. Please see the “What Next?” page for further information on the national festival.

National Barbizon Design Award winners will be selected at the national festival, by national design respondent/s, solely on the basis of the response session for the submitted design documentation of the relevant KCACTF participating or associate production.

National Barbizon finalists are welcome to bring their portfolio to the national festival at the Kennedy Center . National design respondents may be available, time permitting, to examine portfolios. However, portfolio material may not be presented until after the national Barbizon winners have been selected; the contents of the portfolio shall have no bearing on the selection of the national Barbizon winners.

Please see Suggested Format for All Design Exhibits and What Next? documents for further information

Regulations and Procedures for the Barbizon Awards:

1. Only students who have designed an associate or participating KCACTF entry are eligible for the Barbizon Awards for Theatrical Design Excellence – in scene design, costume design, and lighting design. Entering schools will, at the time of registration with the Kennedy Center and Regional Chair, inform the Regional Chair of any student designers in one or more of the three design categories and will request a KCACTF respondent.
2. Only bona fide students are eligible for this award. A bona fide student is: a) an undergraduate student who is registered for a minimum of six semester hours or nine quarter hours at the time of production; b) a graduate student who is enrolled for three semester or four quarter hours at the time of production; c) a continuing part-time student who is enrolled in a regular degree program at the time of production.
3. After the initial KCACTF response, the KCACTF respondent will inform the nominee/s and the regional chair of any student design nominees from the production they have viewed. After such nomination, and appropriate notification from the regional design & technology chair, the student designer/s will send their design materials to the host of the regional festival. The designer is responsible for developing a suitable method of shipping; return postage and packaging must be included for the work to be returned via mail.
4. The timely delivery of such materials will be determined by the host of the regional festival. Alternatively, some regions may require that students bring their materials in person to the design exhibit space at a specifically scheduled time.
5. The complete design presentation, when mounted and displayed on a vertical surface should be approximately 16 to 24 square feet. When size limitations require xerographic reduction of materials presented in scale, such out-of-scale reduction should be noted. Please see Suggested Format for All Design Exhibits . Each region shall determine its own specific requirements as to space and presentation at their regional festival. Please check with individual regions for specifications and restrictions.
6. Should a regional Barbizon nominee move on to the national festival in Washington , D.C. as a national Barbizon finalist, an approximate space of 24 sq. feet, including a table surface, is normally provided to each regional winner.
7. Designers are encouraged to include all of the following materials in their design display at the regional festival. Please note that an inability to provide all requested materials should not discourage or prevent students from participating in the Barbizon design competition. The design materials requested are:
• At least two representative production photographs, in color, labeled as to scene/locale. At least one photograph should illustrate the entire setting and its relationship to the stage and theatre space.
• Visual materials which serve to show research, preliminary sketches, photographic images, and any other sources of inspiration that demonstrate the designers' process and evolution. Such information should be in a format no larger than 24 inches by 40 inches. (Please see Suggested Format for All Design Exhibits for more details.)
• A one-page statement of the design approach to the production; included separately from the renderings and color scheme.
• All design materials must be labeled with: the play title and playwright; act and scene; and the student designer's name. Wherever possible the name of the designer's college or university should not be visible on the front of any materials. The designer's return address should be on the back of each item of the entry.
• Note: KCACTF cannot assume liability for damage or loss incurred to designers' work during shipping to the regional or national festival.
8. Designers are encouraged to include all of the following additional information, depending on their design area. Please note that an inability to provide all requested materials should not discourage or prevent students from participating in the Barbizon design competition.
• Scene Design – the design materials above, plus:

•  Ground plans: blue-line (or equivalent) plans should not exceed 24 inches by 40 inches.

•  Finished color renderings: no larger than 24 inches x 36 inches; or finished model: built in a suitable scale for shipping and exhibition (suggested size is 1/4” = 1'=0”). Note: KCACTF cannot assume liability for damage or loss incurred to models during shipping to the regional or national festival.

• Costume Design – the design materials above, plus:

•  Six to twelve finished renderings representative of the production, no larger than 18 inches x 24 inches, with fabric swatches attached.

•  For productions requiring more than twelve costumes, the designer should include a graphic color scheme showing the palette for the entire production.

• Lighting Design – the design materials above, plus:

•  Light plot.

•  Color key (or some method of showing color choices).

•  Magic sheet and traditional paperwork such as hook-up and instrument schedule: displayed in an orderly, logical fashion. Area used for this material should not exceed 24 inches by 40 inches.

•  Sample production cue sheets: these should be accompanied by a description of the moments and “looks” desired.

•  Paint and fabric swatches (or some method of showing overall color and texture schemes for scenery and costumes).