MADE Student Leadership Opportunities

Help Build Ohio State's New Student-Driven Multidisciplinary Arts Festival

MADE is looking for producers, organizers, storytellers, connectors, problem-solvers, makers, and creative thinkers from across Ohio State.

This is an opportunity not simply to help run a festival, but to help build one from the ground up.

What is MADE?

MADE (Multi & Interdisciplinary Arts, Design & Expression) is a new student-driven, university-wide multidisciplinary arts festival launching with its inaugural Soft Launch April 15–18, 2027.

Every day across Ohio State, students are making performances, conducting research, designing products, composing music, building technologies, writing, creating art, engaging communities, launching ventures, and asking difficult questions. Too often, those ideas remain within the boundaries of individual disciplines.

MADE creates a place for them to encounter one another.

Students from across the university will develop public encounters that might take the form of performances, installations, exhibitions, workshops, demonstrations, research experiences, conversations, community projects, digital experiments, participatory events, immersive environments—or something we haven't imagined yet.

MADE isn't about showcasing one particular kind of art. It is about creating a festival where disciplines, ideas, people, and communities encounter one another—and seeing what becomes possible because they do.

The Student Planning Committee is the team helping make all of that happen.

Join the MADE Student Planning Committee

As MADE moves into implementation, we are continuing to build our inaugural Student Planning Committee. Students can contribute in different ways and at different levels of commitment through three kinds of roles:

Committee Co-Producers

Co-Producers help hold the big picture for one of MADE's four planning committees.

• Steward committee Workstreams and timelines
• Facilitate meetings and communication
• Practice effective delegation and shared leadership
• Anticipate what needs to happen next
• Connect their committee's work to the other MADE committees
• Help establish systems and practices that future MADE student leaders can inherit

Co-Producing is collaborative leadership. It does not mean doing everything yourself.

Committee Associates

Associates are substantive members of the producing team who help shape, lead, and carry forward the committee's work. They may lead or co-lead particular projects, initiatives, events, or areas within a committee's Workstreams according to their interests, skills, and the needs of MADE.

Associates are not simply assistants to Co-Producers. They are collaborators with meaningful opportunities for ownership, leadership, and professional development.

Specialists

Specialists contribute particular expertise as needs emerge. That might include graphic design, technical production, photography, filmmaking, writing, social media, accessibility, stage management, engineering, data visualization, community engagement, hospitality, sound, lighting, research, documentation, web design—or expertise we haven't realized we need yet.

Specialist participation may be sustained or focused around a particular project or period of the festival's development.

Four Committees. One Festival.

Each committee approaches MADE from a different perspective, but none works in isolation.

Curatorial & Programming

What encounters should MADE create?

Shapes the artistic and intellectual identity of MADE through proposal review, programming, interdisciplinary matchmaking, artist development, and the composition of the festival.

You might be a great fit if you enjoy: discovering bold ideas, connecting disciplines, research, writing, critical thinking, asking good questions, seeing relationships between seemingly unrelated projects, or imagining experiences for diverse audiences.

Production & Logistics

How do we realize these encounters?

Coordinates the spaces, people, resources, schedules, technical systems, and logistical planning that transform ideas into a functioning festival.

You might be a great fit if you enjoy: planning, organizing, solving problems, building systems, managing projects, coordinating people, working with technology, figuring out how things work, or making ambitious ideas actually happen.

Engagement & Experience

How do artists, audiences, communities, and partners encounter one another through MADE?

Cultivates the vibe and culture of the festival through hospitality, partnerships, accessibility, volunteer engagement, participatory experiences, community-building, and opportunities for meaningful connection.

You might be a great fit if you enjoy: bringing people together, building community, hosting, designing experiences, accessibility, education, events, student organizations, relationship-building, or creating spaces where people feel welcomed and valued.

Marketing, Documentation & Storytelling

How do people discover, understand, and remember MADE?

Shapes how MADE communicates its identity and tells its stories before, during, and after the festival through branding, design, communications, documentation, media, critical response, and institutional memory.

You might be a great fit if you enjoy: graphic design, writing, photography, filmmaking, journalism, social media, branding, communications, interviewing, audience development, documenting experiences, analytics, or telling compelling stories.

Who Should Get Involved?

You do not need to be an arts major—or even think of yourself as an “arts person.”

• Organize things
• Make things
• Connect people
• Tell stories
• Manage projects
• Solve problems
• Build communities
• Ask interesting questions
• Communicate well
• Experiment
• Notice details
• See the big picture
• Get excited about turning ambitious ideas into reality

Students from all Ohio State colleges, majors, programs, and academic levels are encouraged to get involved. Prior experience in festival production or arts administration is not required.

For Co-Producer positions, we are especially interested in students who can demonstrate transferable leadership experience coordinating people, projects, events, organizations, productions, research teams, or other collaborative initiatives. That experience might come from a student organization, residence life, research lab, design project, engineering competition, community initiative, orientation program, publication, conference, production, entrepreneurial venture—or somewhere entirely different.

What Is the Commitment?

Different MADE roles involve different levels of commitment, and the amount of time required will vary across the year as we move toward the April Soft Launch.

Co-Producers

Co-Producers should expect MADE to be a meaningful, sustained leadership commitment from Fall 2026 through the April 2027 Soft Launch.

During most of the year, Co-Producers should anticipate approximately 3–5 hours per week, including committee meetings, periodic Co-Producer and cross-committee meetings, communication and coordination between meetings, and follow-through on agreed-upon responsibilities. Some weeks may require less time, while others will require more.

The commitment will increase as the festival approaches, particularly during March and April, with greater availability expected during the April 15–18 Soft Launch itself.

Co-Producers will receive a leadership stipend and/or may arrange academic credit, as appropriate to their individual circumstances and academic program.

MADE is built around shared leadership and delegation. Co-Producers are not expected to do everything themselves, but they should be confident that they can communicate reliably, attend regular meetings, meet agreed-upon deadlines, delegate and coordinate responsibilities, and remain engaged throughout the year.

Associates

Associates should anticipate approximately 2–4 hours per week on average, although the commitment may fluctuate depending on the projects, initiatives, or Workstream areas they lead or co-lead. Associates are substantive members of the producing team and should expect meaningful opportunities for leadership and ownership.

Associates may receive a stipend and/or arrange academic credit, depending on the nature and duration of their involvement and their academic program.

Specialists

Specialists generally participate around specific areas of expertise, projects, or periods of festival development, so their time commitment will vary considerably. Some Specialists may work with MADE for a concentrated period, while others may remain involved across multiple Workstreams.

Depending on the scope and duration of their involvement, Specialists may also be eligible for a stipend and/or academic credit.

Details regarding stipends and academic credit will be discussed with selected students based on role, level of involvement, and individual academic circumstances.

We know students are balancing courses, employment, creative work, research, organizations, and life. Part of MADE's leadership model is learning how to communicate, collaborate, delegate, and build sustainable teams rather than expecting any one person to do everything.

Why Get Involved?

MADE is a chance to build something that doesn't exist yet while developing experience that translates far beyond the arts.

Collaborative Leadership — Learn to lead with others rather than simply over others.

Project Management — Move complex ideas from imagination through planning and implementation.

Interdisciplinary Collaboration — Work with students, artists, scholars, professionals, and partners whose expertise may be very different from your own.

Institutional Navigation — Learn how ambitious projects move through a large university.

Creative Problem-Solving — Encounter real constraints and discover imaginative ways through them.

Professional Communication — Develop experience working with peers, Mentors, artists, administrators, community partners, and university leaders.

Community Engagement — Help create meaningful relationships among artists, audiences, communities, and ideas.

Legacy Building — Help establish the systems, traditions, and culture future MADE student leaders will inherit.

Most importantly, you'll have the opportunity to help shape what MADE becomes.

Recognition & Support

Stipends and/or academic credit are available pathways for student participation, depending on role, scope of involvement, and individual academic circumstances. Co-Producers receive recognition for the sustained responsibility, coordination, and accountability associated with their leadership roles.

Additional opportunities for professional references, leadership recognition, portfolio development, and experiential learning may also emerge.

How We Work

MADE is intentionally student-driven, but students are not expected to figure everything out alone. Student leaders work alongside:

• Other members of the Student Planning Committee
• Faculty and staff Mentors
• The Festival Director
• The Office of the Vice Provost for the Arts
• University and community partners
• Artists, scholars, designers, producers, and other specialists

MADE is also a leadership laboratory—a place to learn how ambitious interdisciplinary creative initiatives are imagined, organized, produced, experienced, documented, and sustained.

Ready to Get Involved?

Applications will begin being reviewed September 7, 2026. Students are encouraged to apply by that date for priority consideration; applications will continue to be accepted until all positions are filled.

Applying to Be a Committee Co-Producer

Please submit:

• Résumé or CV
• Leadership Statement (500–750 words) addressing:
• Why you are interested in serving as a Co-Producer for your first-choice committee and how its work connects with your interests and experience
• One or two experiences that demonstrate your ability to coordinate people, projects, events, organizations, productions, or other collaborative initiatives
• What you believe you would contribute to MADE and what you hope to learn or further develop
• Your first- and second-choice committees

Please attach your résumé/CV and Leadership Statement as Word documents (.doc/.docx) or PDFs.

Send application materials to: MADE@osu.edu

Subject line: MADE Co-Producer Application — [Your Name]

Selected candidates may be invited to a brief conversation with members of the MADE leadership team.

Applying to Be a Committee Associate or Specialist

You do not need to submit the 500–750-word Leadership Statement required for Co-Producers. Please submit:

• Résumé or CV
• Brief Statement of Interest describing:
• Your name, major/program, and year at Ohio State
• Which committee(s) interest you
• What interests, skills, experiences, or perspectives you might bring
• How you might like to contribute and/or what you hope to learn through MADE

Please attach your résumé/CV and Statement of Interest as Word documents (.doc/.docx) or PDFs.

Send application materials to: MADE@osu.edu

Subject line: MADE Associate/Specialist Interest — [Your Name]

Don't worry if you aren't yet sure which committee or role is right for you. Tell us what excites you, what you're good at, or what you'd like to explore, and we'll help you identify where you might make a meaningful contribution.

Questions?

Email MADE@osu.edu.

Be Part of Something New.

MADE's inaugural festival will be imagined, shaped, produced, experienced, and documented by students. Some of the systems we create this year may become the foundation that future Ohio State students inherit.

Bring your skills.

Bring your curiosity.

Bring the thing you're really good at that you aren't sure belongs in an arts festival.

It probably does.

HELP US BUILD MADE.