Auditions and Portfolio Reviews

Southern Miss Art and Design’s most exciting recruitment event of the year, Open Studios, is an opportunity for high school juniors, seniors, and community college students to experience hands on interaction with the visual arts at Southern Miss. Come meet our students and faculty, and join us for an exciting day of interactive art events and master classes with our faculty. Breakfast is provided.

• Dates for Fall and Spring 2020: To be Announced.

 

 

The USM Art and Design program encourages a portfolio review as part of the admissions and scholarship awarding process. Typically, portfolio reviews are mostly conducted in-person during the Art and Design Open House and/or Open Studios, but due to our Covid-19 response, only digital portfolio reviews are being accepted.

Preparing Your Submission

Digital Portfolio: What do we look for in your a portfolio review submission? We look for both an interest in and commitment to art, as well as skills in drawing and painting from observation/imagination, a sense of color and design, and other creative abilities.

Here are some guidelines for submitting your digital portfolio:

• Portfolios should include 10-15 images of your work. You may include: drawing and painting from observation/imagination, printmaking, sculptures or other three-dimensional works, ceramics, print, packaging, illustration, typography, web design, identity campaigns (logo design and branding), digital photography, and interactive media/motion graphics.
• If you have interactive media/motion graphics, please share the URL when submitting the form.
• File should be saved as a single Adobe PDF document.
• Include 1-2 images per page: Include title of work and medium used.
• File should be no larger than 25MB.
• Please use the following format for the file name: first_lastname_portfolio.pdf.

 

Recommendation: You will need to submit the contact information of a reference. It can be a visual arts teacher or an employer. You will need their first name, last name, email, title/position, and organization.

Once you submit your application form online, your reference will receive an email on behalf of Southern Miss Art and Design with an online recommendation form for them to submit. Note: You will need to certify that you have permission from your reference to share their email address, so they can be contacted via email by USM to request the recommendation.

Essay: An essay titled “Why I Want to be an Art Major at Southern Miss?”

 

Submit Portfolio

 

Application/Video Audition Process

To apply for acceptance into the undergraduate BFA program in dance at Southern Miss, you must apply to the University AND audition as part of the application process.

Here is a checklist of materials you need to prepare to submit to the online audition application form:

• Resumé
• Personal Dance Major Narrative Questions
  • Share any significant dance experiences or training you’d like to highlight or makes sure we are aware of.
  • Why do you want to study dance in college? Do you have career goals yet?
  • How did you hear about the USM Dance Program?
• Contact Information of a Reference, Dance Teacher (First Name, Last Name, Email, Title/Position, Organization)
  • Once you submit your audition application form online, your reference will receive an email on behalf of Southern Miss Dance with an online recommendation form for their submission.
  • Note: You will need to certify that you have permission from your reference to share their email address, so they can be contacted via email by USM Dance to request the recommendation. 
•  Essay: Select one of the questions below for your one-page essay (If auditioning for a scholarship) :
  
  1. What is the most meaningful dance experience(s) you have had thus far in your training and why? How did these shape what you hope for from here?
  2. What has dance taught you about yourself? How does what you have learned as a dancer inform your life and visa versa?
• Online Video Audition   

START ONLINE AUDITION APPLICATION 

Are you a sophomore, junior or senior interested in majoring in dance after high school? High School Dance Day, is your opportunity to see what dance at Southern Miss can offer you for FREE! New dates to be set for 20-21. Stay tuned!

 

The day begins after Black and Gold Day at the Curtain Up Welcome Day for Scholarships.

Black & Gold Day

 

 

The day begins after Black and Gold Day and will include the following schedule of events:

• Introduction to the program
• Guided tours to prospective students and their families
• Individual meetings with department faculty to learn more about programs of study
• In groups, students will audition and/or interview.

 For this aspect of the day:

• Actors should prepare a 1-minute monologue entirely of their choosing, from any genre, style or period.
• Actors may follow their monologue with 16 bars of a song of their choosing (a cappella only please), but singing is not required for audition.
• Designers, directors, dramaturgs and stage managers should provide their portfolios for a portfolio review and interview with departmental faculty.

**All participants are encouraged to provide resumes and other supporting documents that best represent their work. 

Register