PSF’s Emerging Artist Showcase
Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival (PSF) is seeking submissions for its Emerging Artist Showcase. This is an opportunity to showcase the musical talents of emerging artists ages 15 to 19 in the region. This is a non-competitive performance opportunity and there are no fees associated for participation. The goal is to showcase local artists, with select artists (up to 15) chosen to perform live at PSF’s Community Day on Saturday, July 6, 2024, and those select artists will also receive:
- 2 tickets to the evening performance of The Merry Wives of Windsor on July 6
- PSF “Swag Bag” with PSF 2024 Season T-shirt
Important Dates, 2024:
April 15 at 12:00am: Registration Opens
April 15 to June 15, 2024: Video Submissions Due to PSF
June 15, 2024 at 11:59pm: Final Date for Video Submissions and Registration Closes
June 15, 2024: Finalists Notified by June 15
Participation:
Open to musicians ages 15 to 19
We are seeking the following: solo artists, duets, and musical acts with the ability to perform vocally and/or instrumentally (vocalists and/or instrumentalists). Submissions with background tracks will not be included for consideration. (You must provide your own live accompaniment; those accompanying the main artist /vocalist can be of any age; a cappella performances by vocalists will be considered).
Click on the “Requirements” and “Registration” tabs on this page for more information on participation and registration.
Requirements:
- Performances may be solo or include two people. (Solo performer or duet.)
- Performances may be submitted a cappella or with your own musical accompaniment (e.g. with you playing guitar or piano or someone in your duet providing accompaniment).
- Performances may not be accompanied by a backing track.
- Performances may not exceed 2 minutes in length.
- Performances must be recorded no more than 12 months before the date of your submission.
- Performances must not contain material that is sexually explicit, obscene, profane, violent, harassing, discriminatory, or illegal.
Submissions must conform to the requirements. Any submission that does not conform to the requirements may be disregarded, at the sole discretion of PSF, and without notice to the performer(s).
Finalists and notification (by June 15, 2024):
PSF will evaluate the submissions and select performers will be notified by June 15, 2024. Up to 15 finalists will be chosen to perform live on July 6, 2024 at PSF’s Community Day.
Registration:
Complete the Registration Form; and Video Release Form (if participant(s) are under the age of 18 years old, a parent signature is required).
Upon receipt of the completed registration, you will receive a confirmation email. Upon confirmation, please submit your video:
Submit Your Video: All performances should be recorded and submitted via a YouTube link or Google Drive link to pennshakesfest@gmail.com by June 15, 2024.
Criteria for Video Recording:
- The beginning of the recording should include an introduction by you or one of the participants in your group (up to two persons) which should include the names of each participant and the title of the performance piece.
- The recording must be a single, continuous, unedited shot from a single vantage point.
- All audio should be picked up from camera’s internal microphone.
- No text slides, subtitles, etc. should be added to the video.
Video Submission Guidelines
All videos and files must be accessible by a single hyperlink. To create a hyperlink, you may do either of the following options.
Google Drive:
- Upload your video/file to a google drive.
- Right-click the video/file and select “Get shareable link”
- Make sure the option “Anyone with the link” is selected
- Copy the link provided
YouTube
- Create or log-in to a YouTube account
- Upload your video to YouTube using the “Create” button
- Select the video file
- Complete the prompted information in Steps 1 and 2 (title, etc.). Titles can be first name only, or nickname of duet, and/or title of performance participant number.
- Visibility: It is up to you whether or not the video is “public” or “unlisted,” but it should not be “private”
- Copy the link provided
If there is another option you are more comfortable using (Vimeo, Dropbox, etc.), you are welcome to use it and submit the video using a link.
IMPORTANT: Once you have created your link, test it by opening it in an Incognito/ Private browser.
All links to performance videos must be submitted by email to pennshakefest@gmail.com by June 15, 2024.