About BYU Performing Arts Management

Our Mission

Our mission is to bring the BYU experience to the world through high-quality performing arts and create meaningful educational opportunities for BYU students.

Our Vision

Our vision is to develop BYU students as global citizens by providing experiences that are intellectually enlarging, spiritually strengthening, and character building – cultivating a habit of lifelong service (BYU Aims).

About Us

Performing Arts Management is the managing agency for BYU's performing companies and functions in professional as well as educational circles. The touring program typically reaches 140 cities in 20 countries annually. With more than 400 performances each year, these professional-level ensembles delight and uplift hundreds of thousands worldwide and appear before millions on foreign and domestic television.

Studying with faculty from the Departments of Dance, Music, and Theatre and Film, the members of these performing ensembles are selected through rigorous auditions and are professionally trained to provide quality programs in the performing arts.

For booking information contact:

Performing Arts Management
306 Hinckley Center
Brigham Young University
Provo, UT 84602-8500

Telephone: (801) 422-3576

Fax: (801) 422-0546

Email: perform@byu.edu

BYU Performing Arts Management Staff

Lauren Clark, Accountant

Lauren Clark joined BYU Performing Arts Management in May of 2019. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from BYU in 2012 with a degree in Public Relations. Since her graduation, she has focused her career on personal finance and administrative accounting, subjects in which she has always had a strong interest. In between having three children, she has been a bank secretary, a financial administrative assistant and a licensed mortgage loan officer. In 2018, she decided to leave the private sector and return to BYU as an employee. She has loved being part of the BYU campus community. Once her children are a little older, she aspires to obtain a master’s degree in public administration or accounting.

Lauren enjoys working at Performing Arts Management not only because of the financial nature of her work, but also because of the focus on bringing BYU to the world through uplifting and wholesome entertainment. She has a genuine love of learning about and immersing herself in other cultures. She has traveled to England, France, Mexico and Russia, and has visited over half the states in the USA.

Lauren and her husband, Jacob, live in Provo with their three sons.

lauren_clark@byu.edu 801-422-3576

Karson Denney, Artist Manager

Karson B. Denney joined BYU’s Performing Arts Management in January 2017. He holds a Master of Arts degree in Communications with an emphasis in Mass Communications and a Bachelor of Science degree in Geography with an emphasis in Global Studies from BYU.

Karson has been involved in the performing arts since he started ballroom dancing at the age of 10. As an amateur competitor, Karson held 6 United States National titles. He had the opportunity to dance with BYU’s Ballroom Dance Touring Company for 4 years where he traveled and competed internationally. Karson competed professionally throughout the United States. He is dual-licentiate certified with the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (ISTD) and a certified dance teacher, adjudicator and emcee for the National Dance Council of America (NDCA). Karson has been an artistic director in the BYU Youth Dancesport program since 2003, and taught ballroom dance classes for BYU’s department of dance for 9 years. He is the owner and operator of the retail store, Star Dance Provo. Karson is also a volunteer for Families Supporting Adoption and the Miss America Organization.

For years, Karson has enjoyed his association with BYU. He is excited to be a part of the team at Performing Arts Management and looks forward to working with the performing groups. Karson is currently the Artist Manager for the Ballroom Dance Company and the Wind Symphony.

Karson and his wife, Betsy, have 4 children and live in Provo, UT.

karson_denney@byu.edu 801-422-3575

Assistant

Jaren Hopkin

pamassistant4@byu.edu

Justin Smith, Artist Manager

Justin Smith joined BYU’s Performing Arts Management team in the Fall of 2015. Justin has a bachelor’s in communications/public relations from Brigham Young University and a minor in music. He also holds a master’s degree in higher education administration from the University of Virginia.

He has worked in higher education for nine years within the areas of advancement, communications, and student life. He has more than 10 years of experience managing international and domestic student programs throughout North American, Europe, Asia, South America, and the Pacific Islands.

Justin also has a unique background as both a recording artist and group manager. His experience began at BYU (Men’s Chorus, Young Ambassadors, Showtime Company) then moved into the music industry as both a business manager and singer for the popular, Christian singing group Jericho Road. Working in this field has given him a strong knowledge in marketing strategies, branding, booking venues, auditions, contract negotiations, cross-cultural issues, and problem solving. He has booked groups into Carnegie Hall, Yankee Stadium, Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, the Beijing Arts Festival, and more. Whether on stage as a musician or leading a university program overseas, Justin brings a fresh and unique perspective to a team that is committed to using the performing arts to promote the values and standards of Brigham Young University.

Justin and his wife, Kristie, have three children. They are thrilled to be a part of BYU after living in Virginia and Hawaii for several years.

justin_smith@byu.edu (801) 422-3573

Assistant

Caleb Haynes

pamassistant3@byu.edu

Karla J. Schmidt, Office Manager

Karla began working at BYU Performing Arts Management as the Office Manager in 1986. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University, where she majored in business.

Prior to her employment at Performing Arts Management, Karla worked at the Education Advisement and Certification Office, and Department of Home Economics Education at BYU. She also worked as a secretary in San Francisco, California; Laconia, New Hampshire; and Idaho Falls, Idaho.

Karla and her husband Stan have three children and four grandchildren. In her spare time she enjoys scrapbooking, gardening, and photography. A native of Star Valley, Wyoming, Karla love to travel, with some of her favorite places to visit being Hawaii, Florida, Washington, D.C., the Oregon Coast, and Europe.

karla_schmidt@byu.edu (801) 422-3576

Secretaries

Lauren Reid

pamassistant@byu.edu

Jacob Ribar

pamassistant@byu.edu