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Performing Arts students, faculty attend USITT conference: gathering includes job interviews, discussions of new technology

Apr 17, 2025   |   Arts At Alfred News   News   Performing Arts  
image of Zach Hamm
Alfred University Technical Director Zachary Hamm, at far left, joins panel at the recent USITT conference.

Seven Alfred University Performing Arts students studying Performance Design and Technology attended the 2025 United States Institute for Theater Technology Powering Live Entertainment Conference, held recently in Columbus, OH.

Students participated in panel sessions and labs, and explored new technology and job opportunities on the Stage Expo floor. Several also secured interviews for summer and post-graduation employment.

In addition to the students’ participation in the conference, Technical Director Zachary Hamm served as a panelist for a session, "The Neurodivergent Experience in Design, Production, and Management." The open conversation focused on the neurodivergent experience in various aspects of the entertainment industry and also explored personal experience as neurodivergent, working with neurodivergent people, and methods for personal and industry accommodation.

The session was presented with colleagues from the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and the freelance industry.

USITT was founded in 1960 to encourage dialogue, research, and learning among theatre designers and technicians. The organization has spent more than 60 years promoting dialogue, research, and learning among designers and technicians throughout the entertainment industry as well as universities and colleges.

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