Curating Cultural and Arts Festivals through Theory and Practice

Catalog description

This course examines the role of festivals and cultural events as platforms for storytelling, artistic expression, and community engagement. Using CMU's SONA Immersive Storytelling Festival 2026 as a live case study, you will learn how festivals are imagined, organized, and delivered. The course combines theoretical approaches with practical experience, and would suit those students in language, culture and applied linguistics; performing, sonic and visual arts; global communication; and humanities who would like to explore how cultural events foster participation, dialogue, and idea exchange. This is also an opportunity for STEM students to learn principles of public engagement, and the communication of technology and science through outreach. The festival itself (April 2-4, 2026) is where you will put theory into practice.