The Festival Project

What Is the Festival Project?

Since its inception in 2004, the Festival Project (FP) was designed to offer adult students with disabilities the opportunity to obtain hands-on, work experience in a professional workplace setting related to their career path of interest within the entertainment industry.

Students receive up to 5 hrs/wk of production role-based training providing students with clarity, alignment, and expectations of all roles in each department and promotes effective communication between various departments facilitating the full integration of the departments and company as a whole. This training assists students in making an informed choice for career options and preparing for employment by providing students with the opportunity to explore a wide range of career options in production to help clarify and refine their career objectives/goals. Communication with natural supports in the workplace is emphasized assisting students in performing their roles and feeling socially included, which is crucial for high performance/job retention.

Students also receive up to 10 hrs/wk of hands-on, project-based training in community-based workplace setting, working alongside industry employers on all phases of production of a live music event. In many cases, students are mentored directly by the industry’s most elite promoters, bands, artists, media publicists, managers, booking agents, photographers, security, catering, and more. FP enables students the ability to showcase their talents to industry employers and add relevant work experience to their written/digital/video resume or professional reel (if applicable). Students, with the support of direct service staff if needed, submit their digital resume or professional reel to entertainment industry companies as they prepare to transition into YIC’s Paid Internship Program (PIP).

At the conclusion of FP, students will obtain 1 yr of relevant work experience qualifying them for industry internships, as well as assist students in building their professional industry contacts while performing role specific job tasks alongside employers offering industry internship/entry level job opportunities.

YIC's Festival Project was recently awarded a grant through the 2022 DDS Employment Grant. 

The Festival Project is only made possible through the generosity of our corporate sponsors and donors. To learn more about how you can help and the benefits of corporate sponsorships and donating the Festival Project, contact us.