Designers and Technicians
| Barbizon Awards | Alcone Makeup | Sound Design |
| Design Projects | TheatreCrafts Showcase | Stage Management |
| Prop-a-Palooza | Costume Parade | Design Storm! |
| Faculty & Staff | Tech Olympics | D&T FAQs |
The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival
Barbizon Awards for Theatrical Design Excellence
in Scenery, Costumes, and Lighting
Introduction and Purpose
The Barbizon Awards for Theatrical Design Excellence are sponsored by Barbizon Inc., a premier theatrical supply house specializing in advanced lighting for professionals.
The purpose of the Barbizon Awards for Theatrical Design Excellence is to provide student designers with feedback from professionals working in the field; to give outstanding student designers national recognition; and to provide the opportunity for student designers to exhibit their work at the Kennedy Center.
The Barbizon Awards are National-eligible, meaning the participants may be selected to advance to the National KCACTF Festival in April.
Who Is Eligible
Students who have designed any aspect (scenery, costumes, or lighting) of a KCACTF associate or participating entry are eligible for the Barbizon Awards for Theatrical Design Excellence. Schools should include names and emails of student designers on the Production Entry Form submitted to KCACTF when entering a production as an associate or participating entry.
Only bona fide students are eligible for this award. A bona fide student is: a) an undergraduate student who is registered for a minimum of six semester hours or nine quarter hours at the time of production; b) a graduate student who is enrolled for three semester or four quarter hours at the time of production; c) a continuing part-time student who is enrolled in a regular degree program at the time of production.
Nomination Process
A respondent (or respondents) will be assigned to view a production once a school has registered it as an associate or participating entry. After viewing the production, the KCACTF respondent will inform the production's director and the regional chair of any student design nominees from the production they have viewed. After such nomination, the regional design & technology chair will invite the student designer/s to the regional festival.
Student designers of Participating Production entries may be nominated to attend the regional festival as regional Barbizon nominees regardless of whether the production itself is selected for the regional festival.
It is not mandatory for nominated designers to attend the Regional Festival. Designs may be sent to the festival hosts. Designs will be displayed and responded to, time permitting. In order to be eligible for nomination to the national Barbizon awards, however, Regional Barbizon nominees must attend the regional festival and display their designs.
The Regional Festival
This information is specific to Region III.
Nominees will be asked to prepare a display showing their design at the Regional Festival. These links explain what nominees need to show in each category and the format it should be in for display at the Region III Festival.
Barbizon Requirements by Category: See the National Awards
The designer is responsible for developing a suitable method of shipping display materials to and from the regional festival. It is strongly recommended that students bring their materials in person to the design exposition space at the specifically scheduled time for installation of all exposition materials (see top of page). Those who cannot bring materials in person may send materials to the festival host. The designer is responsible for providing the appropriate mailing and insurance charges.
At the Regional Festival, guest designers will respond to the work of all regional Barbizon nominees in a session open to the public. One regional Barbizon finalist will be selected in each area (scenery, costumes, and lighting). The selection of national Barbizon finalists shall be made by the guest design respondents; the selection process may include other guest respondents as determined by the regional design & technology chair.
These regional finalists will then be invited to show their displays at the National KCACTF Festival in Washington DC as representatives of the region.
Barbizon regional finalists will also be invited to display their designs at the annual United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) National Conference in the spring. Specific information shall be given to each of the regional winners at the conclusion of the regional festival. Barbizon, Inc. will also provide each finalist with one year's student membership in USITT for the year in which the award is given.
The National Festival
KCACTF will provide regional Barbizon finalists with travel, shared hotel accommodations and per diem for the period of the KCACTF national festival in Washington, D.C. (normally Tuesday through Saturday). Regional Finalists will be asked to display their designs at the Festival. A single national finalist in each area (scenery, costumes, and lighting) will be selected from the regional Barbizon finalists by the national design respondents during the national festival.
Selection of finalists is solely on the basis of the response session for the submitted design documentation of the relevant KCACTF participating or associate production.
Select the "Barbizon Design Excellence" Menu Item
Attendance at the national festival is not mandatory; however, many of the awards mentioned above are determined by a student's work and participation in workshops and master classes while at the national festival.
If regional Barbizon finalists are not able to attend the National Festival, they may send their design. Finalists are responsible for shipping their design to and from the national festival, including providing the appropriate mailing and insurance charges.
Faculty mentors will be allowed to observe the national design response session on a space available basis; they are not able to observe other workshops or master classes held during the national festival week.
National Barbizon finalists are welcome to bring their portfolio to the national festival at the Kennedy Center. National design respondents may be available, time permitting, to examine portfolios. However, portfolio material may not be presented until after the national Barbizon winners have been selected; the contents of the portfolio shall have no bearing on the selection of the national Barbizon winners.
Materials Requested for Barbizon Design Entries
Designers in all categories (scenic, costumes, lighting) are encouraged to include each of the following materials in their design display at the regional festival:
-
At least two representative production photographs, in color, labeled as to scene/locale. At least one photograph should illustrate the entire setting and its relationship to the stage and theatre space.
-
Visual materials which serve to show research, preliminary sketches, photographic images, and any other sources of inspiration that demonstrate the designers' process and evolution.
-
A one-page statement of the design approach to the production.
IN ADDITION, designers are encouraged to include all of the following information specific to their design area.
Scene Design: the design materials above, plus:
-
Ground plans: blue-line (or equivalent) plans should not exceed 24 inches by 40 inches.
-
Finished color renderings: no larger than 24 inches x 36 inches; or finished model: built in a suitable scale for shipping and exhibition (suggested size is 1/4" = 1'=0").
Costume Design: the design materials above, plus:
-
Six to twelve finished renderings representative of the production, no larger than 18 inches x 24 inches, with fabric swatches attached.
-
For productions requiring more than twelve costumes, the designer should include a graphic color scheme showing the palette for the entire production.
Lighting Design: the design materials above, plus:
-
Light plot.
-
Color key (or some method of showing color choices).
-
Magic sheet and traditional paperwork such as hook-up and instrument schedule, displayed in an orderly, logical fashion. Area used for this material should not exceed 24 inches by 40 inches.
-
Sample production cue sheets accompanied by a description of the moments and "looks" desired.
-
Paint and fabric swatches (or some method of showing overall color and texture schemes for scenery and costumes).
Please note that an inability to provide all requested materials should not discourage or prevent students from participating in the Barbizon design competition. Displays missing some of these elements will still be responded to at the regional festival.
