AubFest is a student-run music and arts festival held twice a year in Auburn, AL, celebrating local creativity through a packed lineup of live music, vendors, and visual artusts. It’s run off a start-up and fundraised budget and entirely fueled by student creatives. The fest has quickly become a staple of the Auburn arts community, and I’m proud to have played a role in its growth.

I began volunteering with the initial AubFest in Fall 2022, and in Fall 2024, I joined the board to help shape the vision and execution of the Spring 2025 festival. In this role, I took on several titles—PR Representative, Marketing/Social Media Chair, and Music & Talent Coordinator.

In short, I talked to a lot of people about a lot of things.

I served as the main point of contact for all musical acts, communicating with 80+ artists from across the U.S. and narrowing that down to a 13-act lineup featuring both local talent and regional favorites. I handled artist relations, scheduling, and day-of stage management to ensure smooth transitions and a good show for the attendees.

On the fundraising side, I helped plan and execute the events that make-up the majority of our budget. Planning and conduciting fun events in the community— like our thrift sale, Candy Gram deliveries, and local DJ night—are one of my favorite parts of working on the AubFest team.

I also co-led our cross-platform marketing push, generating a 25% growth in followers, 800% increase in engagement, and over 500,000 views through reels, photo drops, flyers, and stickers—all DIY’d with our team’s artistic vision front and center.

On the day of, I led a 15-person media team to shoot everything from live sets to candid crowd shots, coordinated set-up of 20+ art and food vendors, and even shot a few rolls of film myself (all the pics here are mine). All of this hard work resulted in over 850 attendees (up 250+ from the year before), a complete merch sellout, and double the day-of revenue. All big wins for our organization.

All of the work put in was voluntary, and (in my opinion) all of it was so worth it. AubFest is one of the projects I’m proudest of—and I am excited to keep working to make it a success.

We’ll be back this fall fof AubFest VII…best one yet….?