by: Ceoli Jacoby

Student organizations face a difficult task this academic year – finding new members during a pandemic.

According to UMD’s Office of Institutional Research, Planning and Assessment, the number of undergraduate students living in residence halls nearly halved between Fall 2019 and Fall 2020 – meaning dorms are not the fertile recruitment grounds they once were. Additionally, new students have fewer incentives to get involved, partly because  most clubs are still meeting primarily online. The trend has put the status of smaller organizations that require a membership of at least 25 to apply for SGA funding at risk. 

Last week’s NextNOW Fest, an annual multi-day arts festival presented by The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, provided an invaluable opportunity for student arts groups to appeal to potential new members by putting their work on display. Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been three virtual versions of this event celebrating imagination, creativity and community.

The first show of the week was live-streamed Feb. 15 on Zoom and showcased performers from The Hysterics, a group for non-male identifying comedians, and The Bureau, an all-purpose comedy troupe. 

Anna Artazova, a sophomore English major and president of The Hysterics, collaborated with The Bureau in writing, planning and hosting the show. Aside from one improv set, she said nothing was spontaneous. Everything from the banter to the use of cameras and microphones was choreographed. 

Although the show went off without a hitch from an audience perspective, Artazova is acutely aware of technology’s limits when it comes to comedy. 

“Monday was my first webinar, and that means you don’t hear or see the audience at all,” she said. “When you’re onstage, you can work the room. I can’t work the room online.”

The second show of the festival, live-streamed Feb. 16 on Vimeo, featured a variety of short films from the Maryland Filmmakers. The first, “Taste of It,” was originally conceived as a study in projections but became a narrative centered around a pair of bank robbers. The second, “The Auteur,” is a mockumentary-style short film about club member Stone Heyman. 

Two of the short films that were showcased offered contrasting portrayals of anxiety. “The Sound Behind,” a silent film, dramatized the effects of stress through one seemingly successful student’s eyes, and “Overthinking” satirized the worst-case-scenarios on which our minds often dwell.

Digital artists from UMD’s graphic design professional organization AIGA and Paints and Shells, a general arts interest club, went a different route with their portion of the festival on Feb. 17.

“Together with Paint and Shells we came up with a carnival-style event hosted on the platform Gather Town,” AIGA president Aishwarya Shettigar said. 

AIGA and Paints and Shells used the platform, which allows users to create an avatar and navigate through a custom-built world, to design a virtual Mckeldin Mall. In one of four private rooms, attendees could participate in art trivia, learn how to paint like Bob Ross, compete in a live design challenge or follow a digital illustration tutorial. 

“This virtual experience was very unique and gave us a feeling of being together in physical space that other virtual spaces like Zoom just can’t recreate,” Shettigar said. She suggested using Gather Town as a virtual alternative for events like career fairs where one is expected to circulate between booths or stations.

UMD’s Gamer Symphony Orchestra (GSO) was set to perform on Feb. 18, but as a result of weather-related closures, will be performing this Thursday instead. Although the GSO has been unable to rehearse in-person this year, club president Quinn Dang said that the group has still been able to coordinate some small ensemble performances and maintain their bond through multiplayer gaming. 

“Most of our events are within the GSO community, so we’re hoping this event will help reach people on the outside,” said club president Quinn Dang. “Maybe we can get people who are interested in just the video game element or just the arranging element to follow GSO, and ultimately just have a good time at this virtual event.”

Like Dang, Artazova hopes that NextNOW Fest will draw more students to her group. 

“I would encourage whoever is interested to not be scared and audition for The Hysterics, or  really to audition for every group,” she said. “We have a very diverse arts scene on campus, and it’s awesome. Audition season is right now, so it’s your time.”