The Vermont All State Music Festival gives participants an intensive experience in a performance ensemble. A participant must attend all rehearsals, concerts and all other scheduled festival activities. The ensemble’s preparation and performance would be severely harmed without this policy. The festival’s educational objective requires that a participant experience ALL rehearsals and other activities, follow curfews and other policies, and be fully prepared to contribute to the final performances. Failure to attend all of the festival’s rehearsals, concerts and other activities will result in disqualification from further participation in this year’s festival, and may result in disqualification from future festivals. In the event of an illness or family emergency that requires the student to be excused from a festival event, the participant will not be penalized from participation in future festivals. Because it is essential for all performers to participate in all aspects of the preparation, there are no exceptions to the requirement that a participant attend all rehearsals and other required activities in order to perform in the festival.

Festival Participation Guidelines (for all)

To ensure a successful and safe festival experience for all, all participants and their chaperones must adhere to festival policies. Below is a summary of several important rules to be aware of. 

• Students selected for the festival who confirm their participation are expected to honor their commitment. Failure to do so will render those students ineligible for the following year's auditions and festival.

• It is the responsibility of the music educator to assist the student with adequately preparing their music for the festival.

• Students may not transport themselves to or from the festival. (The only exception is that students who attend the hosting school may drive themselves to school at the start of the day and back home at the end of the day. However, these students cannot transport any other festival participants, and they may not use their vehicles during the day.)

• All student participants from schools that require housing (generally, this is schools that are more than a 30-45 minute drive from the festival site) will either be housed in a hotel as assigned by the festival or stay in housing approved by and supervised by their school. 

• Student attire must be appropriate and confirm with festival guidelines.

• Student participants must attend ALL rehearsals, concerts, and other scheduled festival activities. (No exceptions to this requirement will be granted, including for SAT or AP exams.) 

• Cell phone use by students is prohibited during any portion of the festival rehearsals and performances.

• Students who become ill during the festival may be dismissed if their illness precludes them from participating in rehearsals or other festival activies for an extended time, or if their continued participation would threaten the health of other festival participants.

• Teachers or school chaperones who have students who require the administration of prescription medication during the festival must bring the appropriate parental permission form, medication schedule, and medication to the festival and must be prepared to serve as the student's trained UAP (unlicensed assistive personnel) for this event.

• A teacher or adult chaperone representing each participating school MUST be within 30 minutes travel time of the host school at all times students from that school are involved in any aspect of the festival. On the final day of the festival (Saturday), a school representative must be at the festival site until all of that school's students have been retrieved by their parents or other responsible adults.

This is not a complete list; additional guidelines may be provided to students regarding lodging (if applicable) and expectations of the host school.

Failure to abide by festival rules may result in student dismissal from the festival. In the event of such a dismissal, the school and parent will be notified and then the student will return home at their expense with no refund of any payments.