Suffolk’s Performing Arts Office brought students, alumni and community members together for its 52nd annual SpringFest. It was an evening-long celebration featuring an arts, culture and community festival, a student-led variety show and a live concert from three Suffolk-based bands known as The Common, Tom’s Foolery and The U-Band.
Beginning with an arts, culture and community festival showcasing students’ talent through visual and performing arts, the event held space for a variety of different clubs to get more outreach to the Suffolk community.
“I think this type of event is really important,” said Keira Haughey, a senior and President of the Performing Arts Council. “It’s arts, culture and community, so it’s hitting on three really big aspects of the Suffolk campus, which is combining the arts, the performing arts office, which has a huge student volume, along with culture, making sure that we have a lot of diversity that is highlighted at events like this.”
Attendees got to make their way through the festival, where tables from multiple clubs lined the space, featuring student artwork and informational displays about each club.
“For freshman openhouse, I was the one looking at all the clubs but now that I’ve found my spot it feels like a full circle moment since I’m behind the table this time,” said Emelia West, a freshman and member of Suffolk’s literary magazine, Venture. “I wouldn’t know about Venture if I didn’t come to events like this.”
Over the years, the event has changed and grown, featuring participation from different student organizations and performers from across campus each year.
Julia Valanzola, a junior and President of Suffolk Stitch Markers, has been a part of two SpringFests in the past. “I think having this three-pronged event where everybody can come together is a really great opportunity to bring SpringFest to a new level,” said Valanzola.
SpringFest has been a tradition at Suffolk for 52 years. Even throughout the pandemic, it was one of the only events on campus to persist. “We did a live stream with people filming their acts from home, then we put them together and streamed it out. Everybody on the campus and around the globe, because we had students in other countries, were watching it together,” said Kathy Maloney, the director of PAO.
Maloney has been working to put on the 52nd annual SpringFest since early August 2025, coordinating to find a big enough space, as well as holding auditions.
“We’ve been redesigning the event for the last seven or eight years,” said Maloney. “We were looking at how we could re-envision it and took the opening reception and turned it into the arts, culture and community festival and expanded it a little bit.”
Olivia Maaia, a freshman and member of The Ramifications a cappella group, performed an original song at the variety show during SpringFest.
“Student showcases are so important because they give a really fun way for people to come out and support their friends and then discover new artists,” said Maaia. “When you have an event where it’s just showcasing dancers or just singers you’re going to get one kind of crowd, and things like SpringFest are really great because they bring together so many different mediums so that you can kind of discover new things that you wouldn’t expect to enjoy so much.”
As the event continues to be held each year, Maloney looks ahead to how SpringFest can evolve in the future.
“I hope it continues to grow and be what the campus needs,” said Maloney. “SpringFest has been around for 52 years because it has allowed itself to evolve and fit the needs of campus as it’s going.”
