What better way to crown the NEXT Festival than with a gala extravaganza? The Flagg Building of the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences’ Corcoran School of the Arts and Design was filled with festival-goers on Thursday.
Revelers came to celebrate the NEXT Festival’s showcase of the arts across all of the Corcoran School’s programs, from studio fine arts, graphic design, interaction design, photography, photojournalism and interior architecture to art history and the performing arts: music, theater and dance.
This year, the annual NEXT exhibition was expanded to become a showcase of work by the Corcoran School’s graduating seniors and master’s candidates in a festival stretching over 30 days. The festival features performances, art exhibitions and symposia in which approximately 100 graduating students display the work they have done for their senior capstone or master’s thesis projects.
An additional layer of excitement surrounded NEXT this year because this was the first fully nonvirtual academic year for most, if not all, of the students involved since the easing of restrictions necessitated by the COVID pandemic. Being able to celebrate in person made the event especially joyous.
In a statement welcoming guests to the festival and congratulating this year’s graduating students, Lauren Onkey, the Corcoran’s director, wrote, “Together, we celebrate our students’ learning, making, and experimenting—past, present, and future.”
The festival runs until May 20. Attendance is free; a schedule of events is online.
