PERSONAL DETAILS
Name Katie Concannon
Address Austin, TX
Email katieconcannon99@gmail.com
PROFILE
Moved to action from a young age by the climate crisis, my professional life began in the field of environmental studies, with special interests in the areas of marine conservation and regenerative housing solutions. After graduating college with a degree in Environmental Justice, I entered the creative field by pursuing a master’s degree in costume design at the University of Texas at Austin. Designing costumes for musicals and youth theater gives me the joy and strength to continue searching for ways to design garments that have the capacity to transform our understanding of the human species’ relationship to nature. I love teaching about fashion history, and hope to inspire a curiosity for how the past has informed the present (and how we might shape the future!) in all my students.
PRODUCTIONS
Costume Design
Theatre
2025 Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Nat Miller ZACH Theatre
Bus! The Musical!
2025 James and the Giant Peach Rodolfo Robles Cruz University of Texas at Austin
2024 Ride the Cyclone Jenny Lavery University of Texas at Austin
2024 OH, BUDDY Hal Cosentino The Cohen New Works Festival
2024 Then We’ll Rest Caley Chase The Cohen New Works Festival
2023 Address the Body! Dominique Rider University of Texas at Austin
2022 Botticelli in the Fire Ryan Kirby Middlebury College
2022 Dryland Becca Berlind Middlebury College
Dance
2026 Estorbo Público Angel Blanco Angel Blanco
2024 ZAZ: The Big Easy Ryan K. Johnson The Cohen New Works Festival
Film
2022 A Woman Is Many Things… Chase Musslewhite Media for Texas
Just Fine Isn’t One of Them
Assistant Costume Design
2023 In Sisters We Trust Jenny Lavery University of Texas at Austin
2021 She Kills Monsters Olga Sanchez Saltveit Middlebury College
2021 Orphan Muses Claudio Medeiros Middlebury College
WORK EXPERIENCE
Celtic Textile Research Fellow, Wicklow, Ireland Summer 2024
UT Austin Graduate School Summer Fellowship
· Spent one month conducting fieldwork in the Dingle Peninsula, Ireland on local textile folk practices and raw materials used in prehistoric death rituals
· Currently editing a manuscript for publication on the history of Sheela Na Gigs, a form of ancient erotic sculpture
Scenic Artist, Austin, TX Summer 2023
Texas Performing Arts
· Used paint techniques requiring color-matching, shading, and linear perspective to create scenic backdrops mimicking photorealistic textures and scenes
· Led crew of five painters in the detail work for set pieces which involved mastery of materials and tools such as starch, resin, custom stencils, and masonry veneer adhesives
Youth Theater Programming Staff, Burlington, VT Summer 2022
The Flynn Theatre
· Led youth programming for a month-long workshop themed around the creation of a miniature “town” created entirely out of cardboard
· Taught song, dance, and acting techniques to thirty children aged 6-10 in preparation for a production of Disney’s Moana Jr., creating costumes for the kids out of found materials in the theatre
Marine Conservation Research Assistant, Middlebury, VT 2019-2022
Undergraduate Research Grant in Environmental Science
· Participated in a research team funded by the Fulbright Scholars Grant on how conservationists’ factor indigenous rights and social nuance into the creation of Marine-Protected Areas (MPAs) using the GIS software, Marxan
· Completed research included in an article accepted in the Journal of Marine Policy on the history and practices of shark fishing in over 200 coastal countries, using Excel to create a global map detailing the nuances of shark legislation by region
Regenerative Housing Solutions Intern, Essex, VT Spring 2022
New Frameworks Architecture Consultatation Group
· Worked with a local women- and queer- owned workers cooperative to collect research and write a policy brief aimed at applying for state grants funding the construction of low-cost immigrant housing
· Designed and rendered a series of graphics conveying the social and environmental benefits of high-performance natural building processes
Digital Strategies Intern, Middlebury, VT Summer 2021
Middlebury College Museum of Art (MCMA)
· Led an overhaul of the museum’s website by reviewing other museums’ successful digital strategies, interviewing specialists from peer institutions, and researching best practices for online accessibility
· Created an action-plan to increase MCMA’s virtual outreach, presenting to the Programs Coordinator and Associate Director on creative ways to use social media as an educational tool
Historic Costume Preservation Intern, Middlebury, VT Spring 2021
Middlebury College Antique Costume Collection
· Dated and catalogued over 120 extant garments from 1820-1940 in preparation for digital exhibition
· Responsible for giving tours of the collection and supervising the transportation and care of garments for educational exhibitions
Installation Designer, Hallowell, ME Summer 2020
Vaughan Woods & Historic Homestead
· Researched and designed an exhibit displayed at the Hubbard Free Library on colonial women’s fashion, focusing specifically on the fashion history of the working class and women of color
· Built eight garments for a c. 1790s women’s ensemble using period-accurate fabric and sewing techniques
Women Owning Woodlands (WOW) Project Consultant, Montpelier, VT Fall 2019
Vermont Land Trust
· Assisted in the creation of forestry programming for women in partnership with UVM Extension, the Delaware Highlands Conservancy, and Vermont Coverts
· Researched, wrote, and presented a policy brief on how gender impacts forestry ownership and state-level programming from an expansive literature review and interviews of WOW leaders nationally
Fundraising Intern, Burlington, VT Summer 2019
Vermont Public Interest Research Group
· Successfully organized local support to pass the nation’s strongest state-level anti-plastic pollution bill
· Canvassed in over 50 towns in Vermont, spending hours on foot every day to knock on doors and speak with people from a variety of political viewpoints
· Promoted to train incoming employees in fundraising and donor targeting practices
Researcher and Archeological Excavator, Tiron, France Summer 2018
Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology, Brown University
· Conducted archival research and on-site troweling of medieval glass and bone in order to uncover the architectural history of the on-site Gothic cathedral
· Created plans of the cathedral facades accurate and along with team, drew and photographed over 500 artifacts
· Research accepted in the local publication, Le Collector: Bulletin du reseau européen de l’Ordre de Tiron
EDUCATION
University of Texas at Austin, Live Design & Production May 2025
Candidate for Master of Fine Arts in Costume Design
· GPA: 4.00
· Teaching positions: Intro to Costume Design, Illustrating the Storyboard, Scenic Environmental Painting
Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT May 2022
Bachelor of Arts with a Major in Environmental Justice, Minor in Theatre
· Graduated with summa cum laude distinction
· Inducted into the Phi Betta Kappa honors society for excellence in the liberal arts
Brown University, Providence, RI Sept 2017 – May 2018
· GPA: 4.00
AWARDS
Tidal Shift Award, Portland Museum of Art April 2022
Recognized by this regional juried art prize seeking to highlight emerging young artists confronting the climate crisis.
Scott A. Margolin Prize in Environmental Studies, Middlebury College May 2022
Presented to the graduation college senior whose work best exemplified the integrated study of the natural and human environments.
REFERENCES
Raquel Barreto, Associate Professor, UT Austin, Live Design & Production
raquel.barreto@austin.utexas.edu
Nanette Acosta, Costume Production Director, UT Austin
nanette.acosta@austin.utexas.edu
Jason Buchanan, Drawing Instructor, UT Austin, Live Design & Production
jason.buchanan@austin.utexas.edu
Karen Maness, Associate Director of Fabrication, UT Austin
kmaness@texasperformingarts.org