Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.

ASU's Got Talent to showcase 10 student performers

Culture@ASU is hosting a competition featuring a variety of student talents as part of their annual competition

Indie-pop duo Haley Gold (left) and Spencer Bryant (right) of 76th Street perform at ASU’s Got Talent on Tuesday, April 12, 2017.

Indie-pop duo Haley Gold (left) and Spencer Bryant (right) of 76th Street perform at ASU’s Got Talent on Tuesday, April 12, 2017.


Next Monday, students will get the chance to see the hidden talents of ASU as competitors perform to win cash prizes during the second annual “ASU’s Got Talent" event. 

The competition, hosted from 7-9 p.m. on April 18 in front of the Memorial Union on the Tempe campus, is hosted by Culture@ASU. The organization gives students an opportunity to perform and expose other students to different forms of art. They put on performances every Monday in front of Memorial Union as well as shows like ASU's Got Talent for students to perform in and watch. 

Winning the event does come with its benefits. The four best performers will win cash prizes ranging from $250 to $1,500. 

The final lineup competing for these prizes will consist of 10 performers ranging from musicians to comedians and five judges, including Myq Kaplan, a comedian who was a quarter finalist on America’s Got Talent. Between acts, Kaplan will be performing a comedy routine.

“Performing is a very vulnerable way to engage with an audience,” said Melina Almada Encinas, a social justice and human rights graduate student who often performs at Culture@ASU events. “I’m very vulnerable when I perform. It’s weird, you’re trying to ... present yourself as professional but at the same time go up and perform.”

Almada Encinas said she tried out for the competition, but did not make it to the final round. 

Cole Travis, a nursing freshman and MC for the show, said he was excited to see the 10 finalists who did make it performing on stage. 

"I'm the master of ceremonies and my job is to keep the audience entertained between sets," Travis said. "I'll be putting performers on stage and taking them off."

Travis is excited for the show and said he was looking forward to seeing the payoff for the effort that went into planning the competition.

“(The event will be) fantastic,” he said. “We have a wide variety of performers, and they really went all out with the stage building.”

The students included in the show were narrowed down through an audition process, which consisted of them sending in tapes of themselves performing to a panel of Culture@ASU club members, who picked the best 10 from the tapes. 

"We advertised around campus a lot and reached out to the public," Travis said. "They'd go online and submit a tape and 10 performers were chosen." 

ASU's Got Talent is now in its second season and students seem just as eager to participate, according to organizers.

“Now in its second year, ASU’s Got Talent is an fantastic showcase of talented ASU student performers doing what they love,” said Carol Sumner, a senior associate dean of students and one of the planners for the event, in an email interview. 

She said the students at the University have a wide variety of talents, and Culture@ASU looks forward to sharing them. 

“The arts are an important part of who our students are as individuals," Sumner said. "ASU’s Got Talent enables the University to celebrate the full scope of who we are as a community.”

The event is free for all students. 


Reach the reporter at jaande31@asu.eduor follow @jackieanders327 on Twitter.

Like The State Press on Facebook and follow @statepress on Twitter.


Continue supporting student journalism and donate to The State Press today.

Subscribe to Pressing Matters



×

Notice

This website uses cookies to make your experience better and easier. By using this website you consent to our use of cookies. For more information, please see our Cookie Policy.