{"id":77091,"date":"2026-02-23T08:40:38","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T15:40:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=77091"},"modified":"2026-02-23T09:44:58","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T16:44:58","slug":"a-festival-facelift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/a-festival-facelift\/","title":{"rendered":"A festival facelift"},"content":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0<\/span>partnership between NAU\u2019s School of Communication and the Sedona International Film Festival\u00a0(SIFF)<\/span><\/a>\u00a0is not only bringing classic films and educational opportunities to\u00a0NAU\u00a0but\u00a0also giving students an opportunity to test their knowledge and get a taste of what they will experience after they graduate.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Zhan Xu<\/span><\/b>, an associate professor at the School of Communication, is\u00a0overseeing\u00a0students\u00a0in her PR Capstone class\u00a0as they\u00a0design\u00a0a public relations campaign\u00a0to help revamp SIFF\u2019s image.\u00a0Xu said\u00a0the\u00a0class has\u00a0a long-standing partnership with SIFF\u00a0led by\u00a0<\/span>Amy Hitt<\/span><\/b>, professor of practice at the School of Communication,\u00a0and\u00a0that\u00a0the work students are doing\u00a0will not only be\u00a0a classroom\u00a0exercise, but\u00a0so\u00a0much more.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPatrick Schweiss, director of SIFF, and his team have said that many of the ideas and recommendations from previous NAU students have actually been implemented over time,\u201d Xu said. \u201cThis semester, students have been conducting communication audits, audience research and strategic analysis, applying what they have learned in class to real-world challenges that the festival is facing, particularly around branding, community engagement and reaching different audiences.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The partnership\u00a0benefits both sides by giving fresh ideas to\u00a0SIFF and professional experience to students. It\u00a0has been\u00a0an exciting process for\u00a0<\/span>Rebecca Amend<\/span><\/b>, a junior double-majoring in\u00a0strategic\u00a0communications with an emphasis\u00a0in PR and\u00a0creative\u00a0media and\u00a0film with an emphasis on\u00a0independent\u00a0filmmaking.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve enjoyed what feels like the culmination of all the other classes that I\u2019ve taken and the skills that I\u2019ve learned while in the School of Communication,\u201d Amend said. \u201cI\u00a0like\u00a0working with the Sedona International Film Festival\u00a0because\u00a0they are so generous with their time. It has been\u00a0a very positive\u00a0experience,\u00a0and\u00a0I am grateful for the opportunity to work with a nonprofit and\u00a0to\u00a0be able to put my head together with all the other public relations students in my class\u00a0to\u00a0find ways to help them.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Amend said her team is\u00a0gathering research to\u00a0help\u00a0SIFF\u00a0reach its goals, which include using\u00a0a\u00a0social media strategy and online presence to target a younger demographic.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe most interesting part of this project for me has been thinking outside the box about what might work for the 18-to\u00a024-year-old audience,\u201d said\u00a0<\/span>Andrew\u00a0Pegnam<\/span><\/b>, a senior majoring in\u00a0strategic\u00a0communications with a\u00a0public\u00a0relations emphasis and a dual minor in\u00a0journalism and\u00a0organizational\u00a0communication.\u00a0\u201cWe have been strategizing how to develop their messaging to appeal to new demographics.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0about using critical thinking skills and research tactics.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Pegnam\u00a0said he did not know much about film festivals before this\u00a0project, but he is excited about the opportunity to help\u00a0SIFF and\u00a0feels\u00a0the one-on-one client\u00a0<\/span>experience has been a crucial part of\u00a0the learning experience.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWith a project like this one, students get a professional level of experience that will help them build their resume because they are working with real clients,\u201d Xu said. \u201cIt is not just textbooks or classroom knowledge, but real-world experience.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Some of the students in the class are already looking for internship opportunities as they learn what professional PR looks like.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI feel the\u00a0strategic\u00a0communication program at NAU is very hands-on\u00a0and professors give you the tools to apply the concepts that you\u2019ve learned with a real client,\u201d\u00a0Pegnam\u00a0said.\u00a0\u201cSIFF is\u00a0putting a lot of trust in us as college\u00a0students,\u00a0and it is\u00a0pretty amazing.\u00a0It has been\u00a0a\u00a0full\u00a0circle moment,\u00a0and\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0interesting\u00a0to see how all\u00a0the knowledge we gather\u00a0just comes together\u00a0as we\u00a0watch that process\u00a0unfold.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Northern<\/a>Mariana Laas | NAU Communications
\n(928) 523-5050 | mariana.laas@nau.edu<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0partnership between NAU\u2019s School of Communication and the Sedona International Film Festival\u00a0(SIFF)\u00a0is not only bringing classic films and educational opportunities to\u00a0NAU\u00a0but\u00a0also giving students an opportunity to test their knowledge and get a taste of what they will experience after they graduate.\u00a0 Zhan Xu, an associate professor at the School of Communication, is\u00a0overseeing\u00a0students\u00a0in her PR Capstone…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":77092,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research-academics"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/100"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77091\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}