WEST LIBERTY, W.Va., April 4, 2018 — West Liberty University’s MAD (Media Arts and Design) Festival will welcome motivational speaker Andy J. Miller on Friday, April 6.

Andy J. Miller, AKA Andy Pizza in the podcast world, is shown here with a really big cup of coffee.

MADFEST includes workshops, professional presentations and a student media arts awards competition and awards ceremony.MADFEST is open to area high school students as well as WLU students and takes place from 8:30 a.m. until 4 p.m. in WLU’s Media Arts Center and College Hall.

An accomplished illustrator, Miller has a successful podcast and book called Creative Pep Talk. His website is located at andy-j-miller.com and he’s illustrated for clients like Nickelodeon, Google, Converse, Sony, Smart Car, Oreo, The Boston Globe and Nutella. Miller is known for his passion in speaking to creative people about the power of good business and to business people about the value of creativity.

“We are so fortunate to have such a popular motivational keynote speaker coming in for MADFEST on Friday. Students will love him and his talk is open to the public,” said Professor Jim Haizlett, MAD Festival director who teaches visual communication design and digital media design at WLU.

The schedule for Friday, April 6, 2018 includes:

• 8 a.m. — High school students arrive and enjoy refreshments and table displays.
• 9 a.m. — Everyone gathers in College Hall to hear from professionals serving as guest jurors who provide a 15-minute multimedia presentation highlighting various aspects of their work and career in media arts.
• 10 – 11:30 a.m. — Media Arts and Design Award Ceremony (registered guests only.) Jurors remain on stage and comment about the work as the awards are presented.
• 11:50 a.m. – 12:40 p.m. — Session One (half of attendees enjoy lunch, half attend Session One.)
• 12:50 p.m. – 1:40 p.m.  — Session Two (remaining guests enjoy lunch, others attend Session Two.)
• 2 p.m. — Session Three keynote address with Andy J. Miller
• 3 p.m.  — High school students leave campus.
• 3 – 4 p.m. — Presenter Forum for WLU students and recent graduates.

MAD Festival is one of the biggest days in the WLU College of Arts and Communication and it attracts hundreds of visiting high school students from the region who enjoy creative activities from electronic music to graphic design as they discover careers that may interest them in their future.

Besides workshops, high school and WLU students can submit up to two and four pieces of original work respectively in 11 creative categories. Winners receive prizes and scholarships and there are no entry fees in the competition.

The High School portion is open to students in grades 10 – 12, who are currently enrolled in a public high school, private high school, or home school in the states of West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. The college portion of the competition is only open to currently enrolled West Liberty University students. 

Due to the overwhelming popularity of MADFEST, only WLU students, staff, and students of high school teachers who have pre-registered may attend the morning awards Ceremony.

The following afternoon sessions are free and open for walk-ins on the day of the event:

• Visual Effects in Feature Films – Sessions at 11:50 a.m. and 1:50 p.m. with Motion Juror Pasquale Greco. Tracing visual effects shot from paper to screen, providing some of the professional juror’s on-set photography to demonstrate the techniques and technology used to bring written word to life.
• “Your Pencil in the Stone – The Power of Personal Projects.”  Sessions at 11:50 a.m. and 1:50 p.m. with Imaging Juror Andy J. Miller
  Illustration Hands on workshop. Bring some favorite drawings for critique and selection for critique and commentary by Dr. Pizza himself!
• Crash Course: Lessons Learned, but Not from Art School  – Sessions at 11:50 a.m. and 1:50 p.m. 
  Career Advice (recommended for college students and recent graduates). Professional Juror Syd Weiler will outline disastrous career events that her private art school education did NOT prepare her for, how she overcame them, and provide you with the knowledge on how to do the same. 

Click here for a detailed description of sessions planned for the day. For more information on MADFest, contact Haizlett at madfest@westliberty.

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