The Student Ambassador Program offers the exceptional opportunity for students to meet and converse with renowned international designers and theatre experts who are presenting at USITT25, March 5-8, in Columbus.

USITT Student Members are invited to be paired with one of our three participating international guests based on their shared areas of interest. The connections made at Conference can facilitate ongoing international networking between early designers, technicians, and our global counterparts.

Student Members will be selected for this program in Columbus based on their field of study, compelling application, and a letter of nomination from their mentor. All nominations should be made using the link above. Student Ambassadors will receive free Conference registration and a luncheon with the three international guests. The deadline for applications is Jan. 17, 2025. Winners will be announced by Jan. 31, 2025.

Meet our four international guests for USITT25 in Columbus:

Dr. Tanja Beer is an ecological designer, community artist, and Senior Lecturer in Design at the Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, Australia. With more than 20 years professional experience, Tanja has created over 70 designs for a variety of theatre companies, events, exhibitions, and festivals in Australia. Tanja’s latest projects seek to re-think traditional design practices and re-interpret materials to embrace the possibilities of ‘ecoscenography’ – a movement that integrates ecological principles into all stages of scenographic thinking and production. Tanja’s most celebrated project is The Living Stage, an ecoscenographic concept that combines stage design, permaculture, and community engagement to create a recyclable, biodegradable, and edible performance space. Tanja straddles academia and practice and is committed to supporting the next generation of theatre artists to be ecological design thinkers.

Aris Pretelin-Esteves is a Mexican vegan scenographer, costume designer, and scenic artist who cares deeply about animals, plants, insects, humans, objects, and places. Her work is about understanding herself as an artist with social responsibility and as part of a community. She creates open scenographic actions that promote opportunities for humans and nature to connect with one another and participate in the recovery of public spaces. Her materials include waste, the discarded, and the abandoned.

Chris Van Goethem started as a touring stage manager and later became an educator and consultant in technical theatre in Belgium. He is now a teacher of the History of Technical Theatre and Research Skills at the Royal Institute of Theatre and Sound in Brussels. His fields of interest are light, mechanics, production and special effects. His current focus is the Canon Project, a timeline of the 100 most significant practices, technologies, people, places, artifacts and buildings in technical theatre history. The Canon is a representation of the history of theatre technology as European cultural heritage in a dynamic, engaging, and varied way using modern technologies. The Canon will support teachers, researchers, cultural managers, artists, and spectators. 

Lina Younes, a New York-based visual designer in theater, film, animation, and installations is Palestinian Lebanese. She is on a constant quest for story-centered collaborations, which explore narratives while showcasing process. She creates worlds with one eye shut and an index finger as her wand. While studying for her MFA in design from NYU/Tisch, she enjoyed controlling traffic, mapping the skies, imagining the birds and inhabitants of the world in plays, dances, operas, and films. Lina has explored puppetry and stop-motion animation in the Gulf, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and South America. Her work is about freezing moments, replaying them, changing scenarios, playing out consequences, and then repeating. Impossible things happen in an instant; objects vanish, come to life, and are set off again. In motion. Lina is an imagineer with a great love and a great weakness: soap bubbles.

Student Ambassador Program Testimonies from USITT24

"Participating in the Student Ambassador Program at USITT was a transformative experience that provided me with opportunities to connect with a diverse range of artists and industry professionals from around the world. This immersive program not only expanded my understanding of various artistic communities but also fundamentally altered my approach to being an artist. Through engaging in enriching one-on-one conversations, I had the privilege of receiving invaluable feedback on my portfolio and delving into meaningful discussions about my artistic journey with various artists and working professionals. These interactions within the industry not only fostered professional growth but also cultivated a relationship for the future! The lasting bonds forged through this program continue to inspire and guide my artistic pursuits, highlighting the immense value of collaborative networks when navigating the dynamic landscape of the arts." -Sammy Webster, Lighting Designer

"The great energy I felt and your intentionality for international participation have not left me the same. I'm so glad that I was able to make it. It was equally thrilling to see how enthusiastic people were about the festival work in Kampala and the possible opportunities for our students to get some training and or mentorship in design and scenography.  Sammy was such a great match! We touched on a number of things that we shall be following up on. I will definitely keep you posted. This idea of students connecting with international guests is brilliant! I hope that my connection with Sammy and the work we're planning to do together can be one of those success stories for you to continue making the case for international guest speakers, participation and student ambassador programs." -Deborah Asiimwe Kawe, Artistic Director of the Kampala International Theatre Festival of Uganda