by Charissa Ricker | Jun 18, 2018 | Arts and Entertainment, News Slider
Alongside her grandma, student Veronika Jones worked with Music City Center throughout the entirety of the the CMA music festival and even found a potential career path she said she wants to pursue after graduation. The Junior International Affairs major worked the Fanfair inside Music City Center at the Radio Disney Country meet and greet. Jones was in charge of counting the fans that lined up and cutting off the line when the performers had to leave. “A lot of the times performers had somewhere to be right after they were done, like an interview or another show, so it was really fast paced,” Jones said. “I met a lot of really nice people that were really understanding if I did have to cut the line off.” Jones worked closely with artists Cam, Maddie & Tae, LANCO and more. She noted that one of her favorite parts about working the CMA Fest was meeting all different kinds of people, not just the performing artists. “Everybody I worked with was awesome, and I also met a whole lot of interesting people from all over the world,” Jones said. “I met these girls who all became friends through Twitter because they were all Kelsea Ballerini fans.” Despite the many people she met, Jones said her favorite person she worked with was her “Gran.” Jones’ grandmother works for Music City Center and has worked the CMA Music Festival the past nine years. Music is a big part of Jones’ family, and she spent a lot of her childhood at the Grand Ole Opry where her Gran worked as a tour guide. “If...
by Erin Turner | Jun 18, 2014 | Opinion
I am not a huge modern country music fan, but when I heard about the opportunity to be a photographer on the CMA Award of Merit Photo team, I knew had to apply. I began shooting for Lumination during the second semester of my freshman year, and around the same time I started a semester-long internship at The Tennessean as a news photographer. During my freshman year, I tried to seek out all the opportunities I possibly could. I saw shooting the CMA Fest as a great opportunity to meet new people, build my portfolio and just have a little fun this summer. In short, I sent CMA my portfolio and soon heard back that I was accepted on to the team. There were five student photographers on the team, along with several other veteran photographers in the area to cover the rest. The team had a meeting about a month before the fest to see how things would go, and then June 5 quickly rolled around the corner. When everything is said and done, CMA will pick the top student photographer who had the best overall images. That student will receive an award and have the opportunity to attend the CMA Awards in November. The first day of the fest started out horribly for me. I had never been before, and I was completely clueless on all the locations. I arrived late for my first assignment and spent about an hour just trying to figure out where the CMA offices were in the Music City Center. I would go up to worker after worker, each of them sending...
by Kage Sanderson | Nov 14, 2013 | News Slider
Kelly Dean, a senior journalism/new media major and Lumination contributor, was recently recognized for her time with Country Music Association’s journalism team during last summer’s CMA Fest by receiving the CMA Close Up Award of Merit for Journalism. “I honestly could not believe I won the Award of Merit,” Dean said. “I had to read the email four times before it registered. I thought it had been a mistake, honestly! I never really have had that much confidence in my writing skills, but I know that writing is something I enjoy.” Dean credits working the CMA Fest as something that has helped ignite advancements in her career as a writer. “I have seen major improvement in my writing throughout the past two years,” Dean said. “Especially after working the CMA Fest, because of the real world experience.” Along with receiving the honor, Dean got the chance to assist the CMA Close Up team with their coverage of last week’s 47th Annual CMA Awards. She has been part of the Lipscomb journalism team that won the Southeast Journalism Conference’s Best of the South Awards in 2011 that included third place in “Best Video News” and first place as “Best College TV Station”. Dean has also been a part of numerous other successful journalism projects throughout her college years. “This is the biggest honor I have ever received in my journalism career,” Dean said. “I felt so grateful for the opportunity to be a part of the CMA Close Up team to begin with, but to receive this honor was humbling because I was doing what I love in the industry that I absolutely love.” With...
by Cory Woodroof | Jun 10, 2013 | News Slider
Over the past few days, Lumination’s Brianne Welch and Kelly Dean provided in-depth coverage for the CMA Fest for the CMA Close Up, the award-winning magazine. Here’s a quick rundown of the stories that have been published so far. Brianne’s stories: A recap of Friday night’s shows at LP Field. A look at a concert held by American Idol’s Kristy Lee Cook. Kelly’s stories: Some insight into the George Jones tribute panel. A look into a stand at the Buckle fan area. A recap of the Brantley Gilbert event at Fan Alley. A look at a fan meet-and-greet with Eric Church. Continue to follow this post for more stories from Brianne and Kelly as they are...
by Kelly Dean | Mar 11, 2013 | News Slider
It’s not every day that a college student gets to spend time “babysitting” hundreds of children before those kids took the biggest stage of their young lives. And the opportunity for Lipscomb students surely wasn’t taken for granted. “The best part about coalescing with the Country Music Association for this benefit concert was witnessing the dreams of these children reaching a platform to the community. Especially that of Nashville’s renowned, unique community of music, and camaraderie of dedicated country music stars, like Scotty McCreery,” sophomore Linnea Berg said. The Country Music Association annually sponsors the Keep the Music Playing All Stars concert at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center. This year the event is hosted by young country music phenom, Scotty McCreery. The fund-raiser featured the best elementary, middle and high school singers from the Metro Nashville public schools. Several Lipscomb students were a part of these kids’ big day because of a volunteer opportunity provided by CMA. They were able to volunteer because of a new club on campus known as CMA EDU, which supports students interested in the music industry by providing networking opportunities and experience in the world of country music. Freshman Alex Justice, sophomore Berg, juniors Kelly Dean (the author of this piece) and Teresa Piquette were among the CMA EDU members representing Lipscomb. Volunteers got there at 11:30 a.m. to prepare for the rush of kids one hour later. Volunteers were divided into groups and assigned a school. Since the performance didn’t start until 6 p.m., there was plenty of down time for the students. Volunteers were in charge of watching the kids and providing the...
