Barbizon Awards for Theatrical Design Excellence in Scenic, Costume, and Lighting Design

Barbizon Inc. is a premier theatrical supply house specializing in advanced lighting for professionals. The purpose of the Barbizon Awards for Theatrical Design Excellence is to give outstanding student designers national recognition and the opportunity to exhibit their work at the Kennedy Center. Designs will be appraised on the basis of quality, effectiveness, originality, and rendering techniques. Schools with one or more student designers in participating or associate productions are eligible for the Barbizon Awards for Theatrical Design Excellence. Entering schools will, at the time of registration with the Kennedy Center and Regional Chair, inform the Regional Chair of any student designers in one or more of the three design categories and will request adjudication.

Designs of the regional finalists will be on display during the KCACTF national festival and will be returned to the designers immediately following it. A national winner in set design, a national winner in costume design, and a national winner in lighting design will be selected from regional finalists by the national design respondents during the national festival. National winners will receive a honorarium of $500 and an all-expenses paid trip to New York City for seven days, where they will visit the studios of distinguished designers and the offices of Barbizon Inc. USITT's THEATRE DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY will publish information on the Barbizon national design winners.

The KCACTF gratefully acknowledges The United States Institute for Theatre Technology, Inc. (USITT) for its generous support of regional level design award cooperative activities between KCACTF regional design programs and USITT regional sections.

Regulations & Procedures for the Barbizon Awards at the Regional Festival

Only schools with one or more student designers in participating or associate productions are eligible for the Barbizon Awards for Theatrical Design Excellence. Entering schools will, at the time of registration with the Kennedy Center and Regional Chair, inform the Regional Chair of any student designers in one or more of the four design categories and will request adjudication.

Only bona fide students are eligible for this award. For the purposes of this award a bona fide student is one who, during the period of initial screening, is: an undergraduate student registered for at least six semester hours or nine quarter hours; a graduate student registered for at least three semester or four quarter hours; a continuing part time student enrolled in a regular degree or certificate program.

The three categories in which festival responses will occur are Scene Design, Costume Design, and Lighting Design.

Notes on Presenting Design Work

To be considered for a Barbizon Award, designers must present their work in the Design Exhibit at the Regional Festival. As each production is unique, each designer's presentation is as well. However, the general guidelines can remain constant as the goal of the presentation is the same: the designer should demonstrate how they communicate verbally and visually with their collaborators.  

It should be noted that the space available for the exhibit varies year to year. In an effort to ease the designer's planning, gallery information will be published on the web-site when it becomes available. As a point of reference, plan on having 25 sq. feet of vertical space to present in. In an effort to ease the exhibit set-up, designers will be assigned space during festival registration. Please report to the Design/Tech table during registration to receive your exhibit location assignment.          

When planning your display, be mindful that your work will be assessed on clarity of presentation as well as idea. Make sure that your presentation does not overwhelm the design work itself. Remember that process, as well as product, should be presented. Please make sure that your work is clearly labeled with the production title and your name. To ensure impartial assessment, please keep the institution's name off of your work or mask it when necessary.

Designers are encouraged to mock-up their presentation prior to festival.

Suggested Presentation Content

Scene Design

Ground plans, sectional drawings and color sketches of the setting in a medium of the designer's choice. Blue-line (or equivalent) plans should not exceed 26 inches by 40 inches. Color sketches or renderings may be no larger than 26 inches x 40 inches. A model, ground plan, and sectional may be substituted. Models must be built in suitable scale for shipping and exhibition.

Visual materials which serve to show research, preliminary sketches, photographic images, and any other sources of inspiration which demonstrate the designers' process and evolution should be provided on a panel no larger than 26 inches by 40 inches.

A one-page statement of the design approach should be included.

Costume Design

Six to twelve representative renderings, with costume 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.

Renderings or color sketches may be no larger than 18 inches x 24 inches.

Visual materials which serve to show research, preliminary sketches, photographic images, and any other sources of inspiration which demonstrate the designers' process and evolution should be provided on a panel no larger than 26 inches by 40 inches.

A one-page statement of the design approach should be included.

Lighting Design

Light plot, lighting sectional, color key (or any method of showing color choices), magic sheet and traditional paperwork (such as hook-up and instrument schedule) for the production should be mounted in an orderly, logical fashion. Area used for this material should not exceed 26 inches by 40 inches.

Representative color photographs of the production should be labeled as to scene/locale. At least one photograph should illustrate the entire setting and its relationship to the stage and theatre space.

Sample production cue sheets should be accompanied with a description of the moments and ìlooksî desired.

Paint and fabric swatches should be provided to give a sense of the overall scenic and costume color and texture schemes.

Visual materials which serve to show research, preliminary sketches, photographic images, and any other sources of inspiration which demonstrate the designers' process and evolution should be provided on a panel no larger than 26 by 40 inches.

A one-page statement of the design approach should be included.

General Information on the Design Awards

1. Designs entered in the Barbizon Award for Theatrical Design Excellence may be selected for the regional festival regardless of whether or not the production is selected for the regional festival. Designers must register for the Festival and also register for the Design Exhibit to be considered.

2. The designer is responsible for developing a suitable method of shipping the design both to and from the regional festival. Designers generally bring their presentation with them. If work needs to be shipped to the site, please contact the Design Chair.

3. Each regional festival will include a design workshop. Design respondents will give an open critique session of the exhibit at the regional festival for student designers whose work is on display and for festival participants. The guest designer will select, or serve as chairman of a panel of designers who will select, not more than three designs (one in set design, one in costume design, and one in lighting design) for exhibition at the Kennedy Center. Announcements of the designs selected for exhibition at the Kennedy Center will be made at the regional festival.

4. Attendance at the National Design Critique is not mandatory. For those designers able to attend, KCACTF will provide hotel accommodations and per diem for the period of design adjudication. Faculty mentors will be allowed to observe the national design critique on a space available basis. The design award will be based solely on the submitted design documentation relative to the entered participating or associate production. Student design finalists may, at their option, bring their portfolio to the Kennedy Center. Time permitting, the national design award respondents will be available to examine portfolios. However, the contents of the portfolio will have no bearing on the selection of the national winners and the portfolio materials shall not be presented to or discussed with the respondents until after the winning designs have been chosen.

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