Northwestern’s first entertainment consulting club StageStrat debuted this quarter to provide students with real-world, hands-on consulting experience at the intersection of art and business.
Communication sophomores Diane Li and Maya Palacios co-founded StageStrat and serve as the club’s co-presidents. Li said the idea for the club came when the two of them filled out business club applications only to realize none of the clubs catered to their interest in entertainment.
“While we were going through envisioning ourselves in those clubs, we didn’t find anything that made us feel happy working on — like projects or clients that we were passionate about,” Li said.
Li and Palacios study theatre and economics at NU. When she arrived at NU, Li said she struggled to find a community of those with a similar set of diverse passions.
By creating StageStrat, Li hopes to foster this community.
“It’s still hard to fathom that there’s nothing like this on campus and that we really are the first business entertainment club,” Palacios said.
This quarter, the club plans to simulate client meetings among members in preparation for meetings with actual entertainment businesses in the spring, Li said.
Li envisions clients as nonprofits of the arts, such as a children’s theater or a dance studio. StageStrat hopes to meet and consult with these clients about their finances.
“We wanted to find a way where you can merge business, entertainment and theatre storytelling all together,” Li said.
The club’s first meeting took place Thursday in Annenberg Hall, where they will now meet weekly.
Communication freshman Sophia Hernandez, a potential new member, attended an information session for StageStrat where they discussed plans for the quarter. The executive board leading the meeting explained how members will create presentations on business and finance recommendations to pitch to entertainment clients, Hernandez said.
“Although I’ve only been to one meeting, it seems like a fascinating and unique opportunity,” Hernandez said. “I look forward to getting some hands-on experience with entertainment business consulting.”
Unique to StageStrat, compared to some of NU’s other business clubs, is its full open-door policy. This means there is no application and rejection process; anyone who wants to join can be a part of the club.
StageStrat advisor Communication Prof. Barbara Butts said the organization’s accessibility led to the club’s approval as an official NU student group.
“There was a moment when the club was going to be denied because it wasn’t inclusive enough,” Butts said. “I think everybody should have a seat at the table, and no one should be excluded —and that’s with any activity.”
Being barrier-free, Li said, will foster an open and accepting community.
Those who might typically steer clear of or face rejection from business clubs can now have a place on campus.
“We want it to be a club on campus where students can discover themselves,” Li said, “Rather than have a club reject them and make the decision for them of whether or not to pursue business.”
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‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source dailynorthwestern.com ’
