The Artscape: POV festival erupted with light, sound and color as the crowd stood arms raised and eyes fixed on the glowing presence of BETWEEN FRIENDS, calling out to the audience with an infectious energy.

Throughout their headlining set, BETWEEN FRIENDS spoke out to the crowd, routinely flashing “Fight On” signs to USC students and inviting them to dance, jump and sing along with them. During their hit song, “affection,” they stood at the front of the stage, blowing kisses to the crowd. 

“I want you to feel something tonight and I hope you feel something with us,” said Savannah Hudson, the lead singer of the BETWEEN FRIENDS duo.

The USC Performing Arts Committee held its annual Artscape event Friday night in McCarthy Quad and Alumni Park. It presented an immersive glow-in-the-dark experience with art installations, performative dance, live music and light-up exhibits for guests to explore. 

PAC created and produced the event with the intention of exposing the audience to many different forms of performance art, said Alex Gaspar, a co-producer for Artscape and a junior majoring in themed entertainment.

“Artscape has been a continuing event that PAC has put on for years now, and it’s just been consistently growing in size each and every year,” Gaspar said. “I hope [the audience] feels engaged with the space and engaged with other people, and I hope that the event leaves a lasting impact on them to further engage with different art pieces and multimedia and these types of experiences in the future.”

This year, the theme for Artscape was “POV: Alter your Point of View. Gain a New Perspective.” The event was separated into two main areas, with Alumni Park hosting interactive art installations, sponsored beverage stations and a food lineup by the International Student Assembly. 

Over in McCarthy Quad, the Queer and Ally Student Assembly stage saw performances from student artists, and on the main stage, student bands opened before headliner BETWEEN FRIENDS performed.

Caroline Sage Mark, a senior majoring in acting at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, opened on the Pandora’s machine stage at Alumni Park, with her spoken word poetry act.

Later that night, the sun set on Alumni Park, allowing the neon lights of installations, the “Mother Tree” and the “Experience Synthesia” to shine throughout the space. In a glow of a purple haze, Circus Troya dancers took to the sky via aerial silks.

Zoe Elliott, an aerial silk dancer with Circus Troya, mesmerized gathering crowds with her graceful moves high in the sky. 

“I felt very at peace,” said Elliott, a sophomore majoring in human biology. “I felt in my element knowing that we had prepared for this and seeing the payoff of all the other art around us, and then us performing with everyone and all the students there watching us.”

On the QuASA Stage, crowds gathered and sat in the grass, swaying and admiring the acoustic melodies by Noah Etoka, a senior majoring in public relations known professionally as denseboy, as he played a cover of “One of Your Girls” by Troye Sivan. He then left the stage, in which the joyous crowd joined him after his set and received stickers celebrating transgender joy, which he made.

“I felt welcomed and appreciated. I asked everyone to sit because I knew it would be chill,” denseboy said in an interview with the Daily Trojan. “The smiles on people’s faces were so vibrant, and seeing all the colors and the lights and the art installations, it just all came together.”

For the final performance on the QuASA stage, Moray took to the stage with his dancers for a performance of “Came Here for Love” by Sigala and Ella Eyre. To finish off his set, Moray played an unreleased original song “Love Amnesia” announcing he will be releasing it this spring as a single. 

Small Talk then took the main stage, performing original songs as well as covers such as “End of Beginning” by Djo. The debut of their unreleased original featured a soulful harmonica solo by the band’s keyboardist Dylan Ochoa. 

Following Small Talk, the powerhouse vocals of Ayla Claire, a sophomore majoring in popular music performance, demanded the audience’s attention. Claire performed her own renditions of classic rock songs like “Highway to Hell” by AC/DC, and her own original song, “Go Back Home,” which left the crowd chanting the lyrics right back at her.

Finally, when the area went dark and silence flowed across the pit, the crowd clambered closer to the stage, raising their heads to get a view of the headliner. Lights darted across the crowd, shining among the audience as synth swelled and duo BETWEEN FRIENDS emerged on stage in bright neon and slick leather.

As the final notes of BETWEEN FRIENDS’ ’set faded out, the energy of the crowd and the glow of the exhibits and neon lights carried itself out with the pack of USC students on the McCarthy Quad, having been immersed in the spectacle of the festival.