Students revive Heidelberg’s New Music Festival after two years of work

Before the first note sounds in Ohl Concert Hall this March, something extraordinary will already have happened.

For nearly two years, a group of Heidelberg students has been building an international music festival from the ground up. They wrote constitutions and grant proposals. They evaluated hundreds of compositions. They created budgets, coordinated guest artists, built marketing campaigns, and balanced it all alongside classes.

Now, that work is finally taking stage – all under the watchful eye of Dr. Matthew Kennedy, assistant professor of Composition and Theory.

The First Biennial Heidelberg New Music Festival and Symposium will take place from March 26 to 28, 2026, transforming the campus into a hub of contemporary sound and scholarship. The festival’s international Call for Scores and Presentations drew nearly 1,000 submissions from 40 countries and 42 U.S. states and territories. Selected composers and scholars will travel to Tiffin to collaborate, perform, and share research with the Heidelberg community.

What audiences will experience over three days is the result of years of student leadership coming to life.

“Really, this festival planning was at the core of Heidelberg New Music Association from the very beginning,” said Matthew Kennedy, who is serving as the festival’s artistic director. “Through this event, student members of HNMA have gained experience in talent relations, marketing, arts administration, social media, campaigns, fundraising, and grant writing. These are all skills absolutely necessary for 21st century artists.”

Building the foundation

Cameron “Steeve” Gaietto did not step into an existing organization. He helped build it alongside his peers.

In Spring 2024, Steeve and fellow members of the Composition Studio worked together to establish the Heidelberg New Music Association. Steeve drafted the organization’s constitution as part of that founding process and was elected the group’s first president. He has continued to serve in leadership as the organization has grown.

When HNMA voted in October 2024 to revive Heidelberg’s New Music Festival tradition, something that had not taken place since around 2015, Steeve stepped into a central planning role. Today, as Co-Executive Director of the festival alongside Sarah Jewell, he helps coordinate the large-scale vision of the event, from organizing submissions and overseeing adjudication to communicating with selected composers and ensuring that committees and officers remain aligned.

“To know that we are putting on an event with such an immense scale is amazing,” Steeve said. “It has been a lot of work to make it happen.”

He believes the immersive nature of the weekend will make it especially meaningful. “Someone will perform, and then they’ll hang around for the rest of the day. You can talk to them about what you just saw. An hour later, you’re both sitting in the same audience for the next concert.”

Turning vision into reality

Sarah has been equally central to transforming the idea into a fully realized event.

As Co-Executive Director, Sarah worked alongside Steeve to write grant proposals, including an Ohio Arts Council ArtSTART grant that secured nearly $4,000 in funding. She coordinated with community partners and the advertising department, helped judge submissions, built schedules and programs, and hired performers for selected works.

“If I’m being completely honest, it has been both stressful and very fun,” Sarah said. “Having to fit all of these pieces together like a giant puzzle has been rewarding and almost magical to see come to life.”

Balancing festival planning alongside student teaching and her Senior Honors Capstone required discipline and determination. The experience pushed her to grow professionally in new ways.

“Grant writing is completely different from any other form of writing,” she said. “It proved a big challenge to figure out how to be both concise, persuasive, and objective.”

For Sarah, the impact extends beyond the campus. “This festival is so important because it provides access to the arts,” she said. “Being in such a small town, there are limited opportunities to experience live performance, especially new music.”

The work behind the curtain

While Steeve and Sarah shaped the overall vision, other student leaders ensured the logistics, finances, and outreach were strong.

Regan Gibson, Administrative Coordinator, contributed to programming discussions, score review, and organizational planning. She joined HNMA because she wanted to help create space for small artists and innovative thinkers.

“I really wanted to be on the ground floor of something that showcased small artists,” Regan said. “It has given me the confidence that what I do matters and that a few passionate people can make a difference, even in a small college located in a small town in the middle of Ohio.”

HNMA also became a source of resilience and growth for her during a challenging season. “HNMA helped me find the hope to keep going when I felt like stopping,” Regan said. “Having a team that believed in what we were building made all the difference.”

Rylan Clarkson, Finance Coordinator and Treasurer, focused on ensuring the festival remained financially sustainable. He drafted master budgets, organized grant funding, and submitted financial plans to Student Senate, carefully tracking expenses to ensure the organization could continue operating beyond the festival.

“This festival is important because it is a place where artists can exhibit their work in a space where people are there to listen and engage,” Rylan said. “Our little pocket of northwest Ohio lacks new music opportunities outside of Bowling Green.”

Through the budgeting process, he strengthened his collaboration skills and developed a deeper understanding of arts administration.

Rory Mott, Marketing and Communications Coordinator, has led the organization’s social media presence, spotlighting selected composers and guest artists across digital platforms. He also participated in the adjudication process, listening to and evaluating submissions from around the world. “There was a score for electric guitar and voicemail,” Rory said. “Never in a million years would I have thought of using voicemail in a composition.”

The experience broadened Rory’s understanding of contemporary music and highlighted the creative diversity that will define the festival weekend. They are especially excited for audiences to experience the Prism Concerts, which showcase selected winning compositions across three performances. “The selected music was compelling to listen to and read,” Rory said. “Hearing and experiencing it live will be a whole new level.”

Leadership in action

For Matthew, the festival represents experiential learning at its best. Before arriving at Heidelberg in 2021, he had experience building new music festivals at previous institutions. Forming a student organization dedicated to new music was part of his long-term vision to bring that tradition back to campus.

“When our HNMA students leave Heidelberg, they will have had the opportunity to build these skills in a very hands-on way,” he said.

What began as an idea in a composition studio has grown into a large-scale international event shaped, organized, and sustained by students. After two years of steady effort, late nights, and constant coordination, the festival is no longer just a plan.

It is happening.

This March, the music will fill the halls of Heidelberg. Behind every concert, presentation, and collaboration stands a team of student leaders whose hard work, resilience, and belief in their vision made it possible. And now, the world gets to hear what they built.

– by Kaidan Mathias '25, MBA '26