A Creative Future

Our graduates have impressive careers in the arts. You will, too.

The list is extraordinary and keeps growing. Alumni from the College of Visual and Performing Arts work at The Smithsonian Institute, MTV, HBO, the Museum of Modern Art, The National Endowment for the Arts and countless other famous arts organizations.

Our alumni are successful artists, musicians, actors, cinematographers, dancers, directors, producers, choreographers, writers, technicians, designers, teachers, entrepreneurs, and administrators working in 47 states and 15 countries.

Mosaic tile
Meet some of our talented alums
Ariel Kraje, Musical Theater '22
Ariel Kraje, Musical Theater '22

School of Theater alumna, Ariel Kraje, appeared in The Drowsy Chaperone at the Workhouse Arts Theater in early 2024. She played one of the ensemble cast as well as being the dance captain for the show, responsible for overseeing and maintaining the artistic standards of all choreography and musical staging within a production.

Stephanie Cabacoy, Arts Management, '19
Stephanie Cabacoy, Arts Management, '19

Stephanie Cabacoy (MA, Arts Management) is the Director of Marketing at the American Shakespeare Center, in Staunton, VA. She oversees group sales, manages the marketing and sales strategy, and serves as the main point of contact for community partnerships. Stephanie found it hard to find a full-time job due to lack of experience so her undergrad professor suggested she pursue a master’s degree and learn about arts administration. This led her to George Mason's Arts Management Graduate Program, where she explored marketing, programming, development, and finance. The program provided insights from practitioners and administrators, shaping her understanding of effective practices from working professionals in the arts administrative world. Her Arts Management studies led to her first full-time position with the ASC.

Alecsis 'Lecsi' Pillar, Illustration, '22
Alecsis 'Lecsi' Pillar, Illustration, '22

George Mason's Murals at Mason commissioned School of Art alumna, Lecsi Pillar, to design a mural that highlights landmarks and experiences in Fairfax, VA. Greetings from Fairfax, is from the perspective of someone planning a trip to Fairfax City, including a bus and metro card, and polaroid photos of their adventures.

Murals at Mason also commissioned Lecsi to create 6 murals for the SUB1 building on George Mason's campus called The Ideal of Community, which celebrate stories of diversity, friendship, and solidarity in Mason’s student experience. 

Jovick Pavajeau-Orostegui
Jovick Pavajeau-Orostegui, Dance '20
Jovick Pavajeau-Orostegui, Dance '20

2020 School of Dance alumnus, Jovick Pavajeau-Orostegui, has been a professional dancer with RUBBERBAND since joining the company in 2021. This followed a year-long apprenticeship with David Dorfman Dance.

School of Dance alumni are working at companies including the Mark Morris Dance Group, Parsons Dance, Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal, The Paul Taylor Dance Company, Bill T. Jones, Metropolitan Opera Ballet, and many more.

Anna Lopez, Dance '24
Anna Lopez, Dance '24

School of Dance Class of 2024 alumna, Anna Lopez, will be joining the vibrant Montréal dance company RUBBERBAND for their upcoming season. The hallmark of the company, the RUBBERBAND Method, comprises a unique choreographic vocabulary developed by Victor Quijada. It is now taught throughout the world in university programs, workshops, and master classes.

Kyle Bishop with Little Arms Studios
Kyle Bishop, Computer Game Design, '13
Kyle Bishop, Computer Game Design, '13

Upon graduation in 2013, alumni Kyle Bishop (center in image), Alex Estep, and Stewart Van Buren realized that landing that first job out of college was not always that easy so decided to set up their own company called Little Arms Studios. Founder, Kyle Bishop, and his fellow alumni, started the company with the intent to make video games but then had a great opportunity to pivot into the training simulation/serious games space through first responder incident command training. Their company motto is "Our little arms are always open to big ideas!"

Kat Thompson, photographer
Katherine Thompson, Photography, '15
Katherine Thompson, Photography, '15

Alumna Kat Thompson (BFA Photography, '15), credits School of Art professor, Stephenie Benassi, with helping her get where she is today. It was while she was in Professor Benassi's Intro to Darkroom class that Kat rekindled her interest in photography and ended up switching her major to a BFA in Photography. She is an interdisciplinary Afro-Jamaican American artist based in Virginia, working in photography, textile, sculptural collage, and installation. In 2020, Thompson had a solo exhibition at George Mason called Katherine Thompson: Raw Material, and in 2021, was awarded a Young Alumni Commissioning Project Award from the university's College of Visual and Performing Arts.

Kyle Finnegan with Dean Davis and director and professor of film and video studies, Cynthia Fuchs
Kyle Finnegan, Film, '17
Kyle Finnegan, Film, '17

2022-2023 Young Alumni Commissioning Project winner Kyle Finnegan presented a screening of his new documentary short, MSG: Mysterious Savory Grainswhich is now streaming on PBS. Kyle said "I've always admired PBS' commitment to distributing short form documentaries and it's been a dream of mine to add to that library. Major shoutout to Maryland Public Television for working with us to make this happen!"

Hasan Crawford
Hasan Crawford, Musical Theater, '22
Hasan Crawford, Musical Theater, '22

Upon graduation, Musical Theater alum Hasan Crawford packed up his clothes in 2 suitcases and bought a one-way ticket to LA! His goal was to dive into television, commercials, and film. The first two years were hard work but his determination eventually paid off and he has since performed in major motion pictures with Netflix, Amazon, and Universal. He's been featured on nationally televised commercials and has continued doing plays and musicals as well as starting to write and direct his own pieces.

Bella Panciocco, Theater '23
Bella Panciocco, Theater '23

Theater Alumna Bella Panciocco wrote the play The Road to the End while a student at George Mason University, which went on to win Best Drama at the D.C. Fringe Festival. It was directed by Megan Gray Lederman (BA Theater, BA English ’23) and Darren Badley, (BA Theater ’23), and the cast and crew were made up entirely of George Mason students and graduates. The play got strong reviews from DC Theater Arts and Broadway WorldRead the story.

Paul Rosado receiving Emmy for his work
Paul Rosado, Film, '12
Paul Rosado, Film, '12

Raul Rosado is a Senior Producer/Writer for Prince William County Schools, and was recognized in 2024 by The National Capital Chesapeake Bay Chapter of The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences with an Emmy award for his video production work with the school division. While working at PWCS, he collaborated as a producer, editor, and videographer on i! nternationally live broadcast educational programs in collaboration with CBS4 Denver, Canal 44 Noticias México, and the USDA Forest Service on topics such as Caves, Grasslands, Freshwater, Woodsy the Owl, and Smoky Bear.

Vincent Oppido music composer and alumnus of George Mason School of Music
Vincent Oppido, Music, '08 and '10
Vincent Oppido, Music, '08 and '10

Dewberry School of Music alumnus and film music writer, Vincent Oppido, composed music for the new Star Wars game, Jedi: The Fallen Order (2019). Image: Oppido worked on the recording with a 90+ piece orchestra at Abbey Road Studios in London.

Below are some of the places our alumni are working:

Adventure Theatre MTC 

HBO

Prince William Symphony Orchestra 

American Dance Institute 

IMG Artists

Pyramid Atlantic 

American Ballet Theatre

John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts 

Radio Disney

Americans for the Arts

Joyce Theater 

Round House Theatre 

Arena Stage 

Levine School of Music 

Shakespeare Theater 

Arlington Arts Center 

Live Nation, Inc. 

Signature Theater 

Artisphere

Living Social

Smithsonian

Arts Council of Fairfax County

Lorton Arts Foundation

Strathmore

Association of Performing Arts Presenters

Mark Morris Dance Group

Studio Theatre 

Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company

Metro Goldwyn Mayer

 STREB

Bowen McCauley Dance 

Metropolitan Museum of Art 

The Limon Company 

Capital Fringe

MTV Networks 

The Phillips Collection

Carnegie Hall 

Museum of Modern Art 

Theatre Development Fund

CNBC

National Endowment for the Humanities 

The George Balanchine Trust

Center Stage

National Endowment for the Arts 

The Walt Disney Company

Cirque de Soleil

National Geographic 

The Washington Ballet 

CityDance Ensemble 

Nederland Theater, Broadway

Universal Music Group

Discovery Communications 

New York City Ballet 

Virginia Opera

Corcoran Gallery of Art 

New York Foundation for the Arts  

Washington Ballet

CustomInk

Paper Mill Playhouse, NJ 

Washington Opera

Disney

Parsons Dance 

Washington Performing Arts Society 

Ford's Theatre 

Patricia M. Sitar Center for the Arts

Washington Stage Guild

Greater Reston Arts Center 

PBS

WETA

Guggenheim Museum

Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre

Wolf Trap

Hirshhorn Museum

Potomac Arts Academy 

Woolly Mammoth Theatre

Hylton Performing Arts Center

The Paul Taylor Dance Company

Workhouse Arts Center