XII. Facilities & Event Scheduling

The School of Music, Theatre, and Dance can schedule class meetings, performances, and other events in MTD spaces. All members of the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance community are responsible for the upkeep and cleaning of our spaces and the usage and security of each room’s equipment. Any damage to spaces or equipment should be reported to the Associate Director of Facilities via the MTD Service Request Form located at https://www.smtd.directory/.

XII.a. ROOM RESERVATIONS

Faculty, Staff, or Students wishing to use MTD classrooms, practice, studio, and performance spaces outside of regularly scheduled class time can reserve a space on the MTD directory. All room reservations are required to have a form submitted for that reservation to be in good standing. Failure to provide a form may result in a reservation being removed from the calendar. Emails to the MTD office staff are not an acceptable method of reserving a room. The School Director reserves the right to supersede previously reserved rooms as needed for school wide initiatives that support the betterment of MTD.

XII.b. MTD SPACE PRIORITY

In the event of conflicting reservation requests that cannot be mutually resolved between the two parties the Associate Director of Production and Facilities and the MTD Office Specialists will prioritize the following in this order:

All MTD Courses with an assigned meeting time and space that has been established through MTD’s Academic Advisors and/or listed in the course catalog. If further factors are required, the course material and/or the number of enrolled students will be used. This does not include recitals, performances, etc. that are results of those courses.
Productions, Concerts, Band, Choir, Orchestra, and other events that have been put on the calendar during the Annual MTD Scheduling Meeting in February.
QuVee Mock masterclasses, class performances, recitals, guest artist performances, student works, and other activities that are reserved by the first Friday in September during the fall semester and the first Friday in February in the spring semester.
Faculty performances, faculty recitals, and concerts that are scheduled by the first Friday in September during the fall semester and the first Friday in February in the spring semester.
External events, practices, and all other events that did not make the aforementioned scheduling deadlines.

Items listed in category two need to have a time and confirmed location to put on the calendar by the Annual scheduling meeting in February. All room reservations for internal MTD spaces and AFC after the calendar meeting need to be submitted via the room reservation form by the first Friday in March.

Items listed in categories three, four, and five will be given priority scheduling by date, and time first and then if needed by size and scope of the request submitted.

XII.c. NON MTD CONTROLLED REHEARSAL/PERFORMANCE SPACES

McCain Auditorium (Proscenium Theatre): Is controlled through McCain Auditorium the organization. While the organization works with MTD in holding performances and concerts the use of their spaces generally requires planning two years in advance and should be brought up during the Annual MTD Scheduling Meeting. If that’s not possible those requests will need to be sent to the General Operations Manager. It is important to note that McCain Auditorium staff will not take reservation requests or requests to extend or modify original reservations from individual faculty members. While we will do everything possible to accommodate your event, please be prepared for your request to be denied usage of this space if it is not scheduled far enough in advance.

McCain Facility Usage & Scheduling Fees

Tuition-Driven Academic Fee Exemption

Course-Numbered Activity Exemption: Any event, performance, or rehearsal directly tied to a formal course number is exempt from standard auditorium facility rental fees.
Determining Factor: Primary priority and fee waivers are determined by whether the activity is tuition-driven academic instruction.
Direct Cost Recovery: While rental fees are waived for course-numbered activities, MTD remains responsible for direct operational costs, including labor, materials, technical staff, and specialized production equipment.

Daytime Rehearsals & Low-Resource Usage

Zero-Fee Usage: Daytime rehearsals for primary academic ensembles (e.g., Band, Orchestra, Choirs) that operate using standard work lights and require no technical staff or facility resources incur no facility rental or staffing fees.

Non-Course Events & Special Ensembles

Separate Categorization: Events that fall outside standard course-numbered instruction—such as specialized ensemble performances (e.g., Kazoo Choir) or school initiatives—are classified under a separate usage category and evaluated individually.
Recruitment Activities: Student recruitment activities are formally distinguished from tuition-driven coursework and do not automatically qualify for tuition-driven rental fee waivers.
Evaluation Criteria for Fee Assessment: Non-course usage, special ensemble events, and recruitment activities will be evaluated and billed based on five resource factors:
1. Technical Needs: Sound, lighting, rigging, and AV setup requirements.
2. Employee & Staffing Needs: Stagehands, front-of-house staff, and technical supervisors.
3. Public Access: Attendance scope (internal academic audience vs. ticketed public event).
4. Fundraising Status: Whether admission, donations, or commercial revenue are involved.
5. Resource Demand: Overall facility wear and consumable material usage.

Scheduling an Event with McCain Auditorium

Annual Priority Deadline: All MTD large scale performances, seasonal productions, and rehearsals must be formally submitted and scheduled during the annual February Scheduling Meeting the year prior to the event.
- McCain Auditorium schedules a year and a half in advance. For MTD events to use McCain Auditorium and have scheduling priority MTD needs to schedule two to three years in advance.
Scheduling Outside Priority Deadline: Any event request submitted outside the February scheduling window will need to be reviewed by MTD’s General Operations Manager. The event holder can begin this process by filling out the MTD Room Reservation Form or email MTD’s General Operations Manager directly.

All Faiths and Danforth Chapel: Is controlled through the university rooms scheduler. While MTD has priority over the spaces we do have to receive approval from the university before we can fully schedule a request.

Other external spaces: As opportunities develop faculty, students and staff have the ability to hold performances, recitals, concerts, etc. in other on or off campus buildings. Funding requests should be submitted and a discussion on the details of the activity should be had with the appropriate associate directors or the school director prior to booking the space.

XII.d. FACULTY OFFICES

As faculty office or storage spaces become vacant, faculty can make a request to the School Director to change faculty office or storage spaces. To ensure equity across faculty, the School Director in consultation with the Associate Directors may ask faculty to relocate to best serve the needs of the school. If a faculty member is in need of repair or general maintenance i.e. paint, holes patched, etc. of their office they should submit a request to the Associate Director of Production and Facilities or MTD’s office specialist.