Graphic design major Olivia Larson got a volunteer opportunity that you don’t often see on a portfolio or resume.

Larson worked with Wichita Festivals Inc, doing graphic design work for the biggest festival in the state: Riverfest.

WSU Adjunct Instructor of Art Jenny Venn — who also serves as the Director of Marketing & Communications for Wichita Festivals Inc — taught an Introduction to Graphic Design class this spring and there offered students the opportunity to do volunteer work for the festival.

“Wichita Festivals has seven staff members, but we actually have over 5000 volunteers,” Venn said. “Riverfest would not happen without all of those volunteers, and it’s an incredible thing to be a part of — it’s one of the biggest parties in the country.”

Larson used templates from previous Riverfest guides and menus to design ones for this year, using new information and adding new design elements. 

“They gave me the updated information and elements and design stuff we had from the poster and from the buttons and stuff, so I just kind of took that information they gave me updated them to what they were, and made it kind of fit in the environment,” Larson said.

Larson also designs for GoCreate, a creative community workspace.

“Recently, we were doing a show for PBS called Make48,” Larson said. “There were eight teams that had to come up with an invention for some kind of problem that they were given, and I basically designed the brand name for almost all of them in 48 hours or less.”

Larson said she’d do work for Riverfest again. Venn said there are a variety of volunteer roles available for those who want to be involved in Riverfest, like engineers, architects, etc.

“Anybody who wants to be involved in Riverfest, they’re welcome to contact me and we can get them wherever they would like to be to partner with Riverfest, using their skill set. 

For more information about volunteering at Riverfest next year or other Wichita Festivals Inc events throughout the year, contact Venn at [email protected].