By Jesse Jones and Bailey Lowe 
MTSU Seigenthaler News Service 

MANCHESTER, Tenn. — A campus visit from Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival founders in 2014 has grown into a long-standing partnership that places Middle Tennessee State University students behind cameras, in media tents and on stages alongside industry professionals at the June festival set for Friday-Sunday, June 11-14, in Manchester, Tennessee.

For the 10th year, students from MTSU’s Scott Borchetta College of Media and Entertainment are heading to Bonnaroo. The annual opportunity allows students to apply classroom skills in a hands-on, fast-paced environment.

“It’s one thing to learn in a classroom how to run a camera or mix sound,” said Beverly Keel, dean of the Scott Borchetta College of Media and Entertainment. “It’s another to be thrown into this environment, not knowing what’s going to happen next, and you have to respond.”

This year, 26 video and film students will spend roughly 60 hours working at the festival, helping produce live content coverage from MTSU’s Mobile Production Lab — better known on campus as “the truck.” The 46-foot remote production vehicle serves as a mobile control room where students direct broadcasts, operate cameras and manage audio for live events.

MTSU will be broadcasting eight shows a night during the festival from the This stage, one of the Hulu stages that will be featured in the livestreamed broadcasts for the three nights — meaning MTSU will be handling a quarter of the telecasts.

MTSU’s Bonnaroo footprint also includes 10 students from the School of Journalism and Strategic Media, who cover the ins and outs of the festival as working members of a professional media cohort.

Since the partnership began, approximately 100 students have participated in the Bonnaroo experience.

The partnership has become one of the college’s most valuable experiential learning opportunities, Keel said, giving students direct access to the entertainment industry.

“It gives our students real-world, hands-on experience that helps them get jobs after they graduate,” Keel said.

One former participant, MTSU alumnus Jo Litzenberger, took the class in 2019 before graduating in 2020. Now a freelance live video director based in Denver, Litzenberger works on concerts, festivals and tours around the world.

Litzenberger has worked several tours since his time at Bonnaroo, including serving as a director on Olivia Rodrigo’s “Guts” world tour. When he took the course during the summer between his junior and senior years, he had not yet settled on a career path.

“I had all the pieces, but I hadn’t put them together yet,” Litzenberger said.

‘… it’s not theoretical’

Students work alongside industry professionals in roles ranging from audio production and live streaming to camera operation and content creation, Litzenberger said. Unlike classroom simulations, festival production requires students to adapt to constantly changing conditions while maintaining professional standards.

The event offers training that is difficult to replicate on campus, said Bob Gordon, chair of MTSU’s Media Arts Department and a longtime Bonnaroo instructor.

The festival is an extension of MTSU’s advanced remote production program. During the academic year, students use the Mobile Production Lab to produce sporting events, concerts and television for outlets including PBS and ABC before taking those skills to Bonnaroo each summer.

“This is probably the most realistic class offered in the arts, because it’s not theoretical,” Gordon said. “We’re out there streaming and recording live performances with no rehearsal.”

Meanwhile, MTSU journalism students will produce stories, social media content and photos that the Tennessee Press Association distributes to member print and online organizations for editorial use. On-site, students spend four nights at Bonnaroo, where they cover breaking news, interview artists and search the campgrounds for one-of-a-kind feature stories.

“In journalism, there’s no replacement for real-world experience,” said Matt Leimkuehler, assistant journalism professor who supervises the student journalists. “These students are on the grounds, interviewing participants, executing ideas for social media and writing cutlines while on same-day deadlines. They’re learning how to tell stories not in a classroom, but in a media tent alongside professionals who are doing similar work.”

MTSU’s involvement differs from other universities that attend the festival because students are directly involved in professional production work, Keel said.

“We started going out there first and then other universities started going out there, but they just have lectures out there,” Keel said. “We’re in the middle of the professionals who are working the event.”

The festival environment’s demanding nature is what makes the experience so valuable, Keel said. Students must solve problems in real time as performances unfold.

Technical difficulties and unexpected challenges are common during live productions, making adaptability an essential skill for students.

“Murphy’s Law is always in command — if it can go wrong, it will,” Gordon said. “It’s when everything’s falling apart and you have to figure out a way around it so the audience doesn’t know.”

Despite those challenges, students are responsible for producing a significant amount of content throughout the festival, Gordon said.

The experience teaches students how to remain professional under pressure, Gordon said.

Litzenberger worked his first tour the day after Bonnaroo and quickly realized how much the class had prepared him for professional work, he said.

“You’re not starting from scratch,” Litzenberger said. “You’re going into the professional world already knowing how to do the job.”

Litzenberger said the festival gives students a unique opportunity to learn by doing while still in college.

“Your classroom is a music festival,” Litzenberger said. Who wouldn’t want to do that?”Added Leimkuehler: “It’s the type of experience that they can take into an internship or an entry-level job, a way of saying ‘I know how to hit a deadline’ or ‘I know what goes into making story pub-ready,’ because they did it nonstop for a weekend at Bonnaroo.”