by Hunter Hine
University of Maryland’s annual NextNOW Fest concluded on Sunday, Sept. 19 with a daytime music festival hosted by The Hall CP that featured UMD students Lulu Jameson and Quinn “Kay” Kirk along with local band Paint Branch Creek.
The first performer, Jameson, sang and played ukulele. Jameson is from Hyattsville and is a junior cells-bio and genetics major. Jameson performed several original songs like “Sweet Thing” and “Cut Ties,” but also played covers like “Traitor,” by Olivia Rodrigo and “Motion Sickness,” by Phoebe Bridgers.
“It’s kind of like diary entries as songs, so it’s really like my own experiences, it’s the music I listen to,” said Jameson about what inspires her music.
“But it’s a lot of just trying to put my thoughts and experiences into words cause I’m not very good at saying how I feel, but it’s easier to just kind of write it out.”
“I love this campus. It wasn’t the school I expected to go to, but it was the perfect fit and it’s been so nice to have all my friends from my job,” said Jameson. “I’m an RA, and so they all came. And it’s really nice to feel like I’m a part of this community, and just like be a part of UMD.”
The second performer, Kay, sang and played guitar.
Kay is from Silver Spring and is a junior family science major. Kay opened her performance with two original songs called “Points of View,” and “Poor Thing,” but she also covered songs like “This is How I Learn to Say No,” by EMELINE and “Top of the World,” by The Chicks.
“I’m honestly just trying to get out my emotions, well it’s mainly about expressions and all of my songs are usually, I mean a lot of them are just about me,” said Kay about what messages she is trying to send through her music. “I only write music when I feel inspired so usually there’s some type of strong emotion behind it.”
Kay and Jameson are part of The Terrapin Record Label, said president of the label, Erin Doyle, who was hosting an information booth at The Hall. While all members of the label have access to the resources they offer, featured artists get priority for the recording studio, promotions and booking shows, said Doyle.
Kay got to be “featured artist” in the spring semester of 2020 after auditioning, but school transitioned online due to COVID-19 before she could finish recording one of her songs. Kay said she performed some shows over zoom that semester.
“I would not be able to do any of this or, be able to record, I mean – I haven’t really finished recording anything but they have the recording studio for free and they are so supportive and helpful and set up all these shows and stuff,” Kay said about the Terrapin Record Label. “I just think it’s awesome how they want to help young college student musicians.”
Doyle, a senior neuroscience major at UMD, said the motto of the Terrapin Record Label is “for the students, by the students.”
“Even if,”… “you don’t really feel like you have anything to offer, I promise you do have something to offer, even if it’s just coming to our shows, just like coming out today, is like a great way to support us,” said Doyle.
The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center has put on eight NextNOW Festivals since the first one in 2014, said the Clarice Associate Director of Programming, Megan Pagado Wells. The NextNOW Fest features events and activities by student artists and organizations, local artists and touring artists. The festival is traditionally a two-night event at the Clarice building, but the Arts for All initiative helped expand this year’s NextNOW Fest to seven days with some events hosted off-campus like at The Hall, said Wells.
The Arts for All initiative is a UMD program with a mission to combine the arts with science, technology and other studies, according to the UMD website.
“In 2020 in response to the restrictions that we had we created a five night virtual festival with five live events each night, which was a really, I think, interesting exercise in distilling down what was most important to us about the festival,” said Wells about the 2020 virtual NextNOW Fest.
“We’re really trying to create a space for creatives on campus to see each other’s work, to showcase their work and be inspired,” said Wells. “Especially being at the beginning of the year, I think it’s a really great opportunity for people to get their feet wet and just seeing what creativity on campus looks like. That’s why we really strive to feature students as much as possible because there are amazing artists that are right here on our campus.”
The NextNOW Fest was not only performed by UMD students, but also partly organized by a team of students as well. The student curator for the Clarice, Selia Myers, is a senior majoring in flute performance and minoring in arts leadership and professional writing. Myers said as student curator she plans events and partners with students and off-campus groups to have them present at NextNOW Fest.
“Our mission for the festival was to have people connect and reconnect with each other and the campus, because after so much time away I think a lot of people were really yearning that social interaction, and I think we definitely succeeded in that,” said Myers. “I mean, I was running around a bit during the festival to manage all of my events but even still I managed to meet a few new people.”