Nothing beats a good performance festival experience! Whether you’re looking to take your band, choir, orchestra or theatre students to a festival for a fun experience or to be adjudicated by a panel of experts, there’s a memorable experience waiting for you. Check out these top events and festivals to consider!
Junior Theater Festival Atlanta
January 17-19, 2025 | Atlanta, Georgia
Junior Theater Festival Atlanta (JTF) is the world’s biggest and best celebration of young people performing musical theater, bringing student musical theater troupes from all over the world together for a weekend of musical theater mayhem and madness. Each troupe performs 15 minutes from a Broadway Junior® show for adjudication by a panel of musical theater experts. The weekend also features professional development for teachers, workshops for students and parents, and more.
Mackinaw Memorial Parade
Memorial Day Weekend | Mackinaw City, Michigan
Students can start their Memorial Day Weekend off with a bang by joining in on the yearly fun brought by the Mackinaw Memorial Parade, the largest in the state of Michigan. Students could join other bands by marching in the parade while saluting our honored veterans and see floats, queens, clowns, and the parade’s pageant cast—all in costume. The weekend also includes a costumed live action portrayal of the June 2, 1763 battle between the French, British and Native Americans which helped shape the history of the region. You won’t regret being a part of America’s longest-running, free Memorial Day historical program.
Smoky Mountain Music Festival
April 4, 11 & 25, 2025 | Gatlinburg, Tennessee
For over 30 years, more than 6,500 groups from 29 states and Canada have participated in choral, band and orchestra events offered at the Smoky Mountain Music Festival. One of the nation's most exciting and educational festivals, the Smoky Mountain Music Festival includes ensembles in all categories, judged by some of the most competent musicians and educators in the profession. Gatlinburg also offers visiting student groups the opportunity to admire the beauty of nearby Great Smoky Mountains National Park, along with many of the resort town’s attractions and entertainment facilities.
Have you heard about ETI’s Referral Reward Program? Be sure to refer your fellow colleagues—including theatre and drama educators—and ask your ETI travel consultant for more details!
Courtesy of ETI.
