Much like the music video Kara Keene wrote, directed and produced for her honors thesis/senior capstone project, she is a multifaceted artist. Not content to stay in a single lane, she has made it her mission to explore all of the pursuits that light her up and experience all Arizona State University has to offer.
Hailing from Groveland, Massachusetts, Keene is a student in ASU’s The GAME School, embedded in the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, as well as a Barrett, The Honors College student. She graduates this spring with her bachelor’s degree in media arts and sciences with a concentration in design and a minor in theater. She is also an ASU Moeur Award recipient.
Originally a graphic design major, Keene felt limited by a program that had her diving deep into one of her passions to the exclusion of others. She made the difficult decision to switch majors to media arts and sciences with a concentration in design instead.
“I am so glad I did,” said Keene, “because I was also able to then add a minor in theater, and this was the perfect combo for me to explore all of my artistic passions through different classes at ASU.”
Since the switch, she has crafted a truly custom academic experience that has included dancing in ASU shows, acting in student-run productions with PRISM, directing photoshoots, walking in community fashion shows, publishing work in Barrett’s student-run Normal Noise magazine and serving as creative director for ASU Fashion Collective’s magazine.
Her spectrum of arts involvement culminated in her music video, which blended all these disciplines with media technology. Her efforts earned her a Barrett Creativity Award, and it is the project of which she is most proud.
Keene said, “I worked on this project all of senior year, and it brought together many of my interest areas including dance, LED screen visuals and video into one project.”
The song central to the video, “Stardust,” was submitted by singer/songwriter and ASU alum Cassidy Brooke, ’25 BA in music.
“It genuinely brought tears to my eyes when I listened to it,” Keene said about the piece. “I could see the movement of the dance to the music and picture all the visuals in my head as I listened, and that’s how I knew that was going to be the song.”
In addition to directing and producing the video, Keene also edited, did the virtual production design and helped choreograph it.
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Myhanh Nguyen lies on an immersive projection set surrounded by a galaxy of stars in a still from the music video directed by Kara Keene for the song “Stardust” by ASU alum Cassidy Brooke.
Photo courtesy of Kara Keene
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Dancers Audrey Schmitt, Nat Fowler, Mia Brenton and Lilly Lawson are silhouetted in front of a hazy golden light in a still from the music video.
Photo courtesy of Kara Keene
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Myhanh Nguyen looks off to her left in front of a screen wall featuring a pixelated echo of her image in a still from the music video.
Photo courtesy of Kara Keene
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Dancers Audrey Schmitt, Nat Fowler, Mia Brenton and Lilly Lawson move around Myhanh Nguyen in a still from the video.
Photo courtesy of Kara Keene
“I had always wanted to make a music video, and I got to work with some really amazing and talented people who helped me bring my vision to life,” Keene said. “It was a lot of work with so many different moving parts, logistics and elements that all had to come together, and I am proud of how much I was able to achieve with this ambitious piece.”
Associate Professor Lauren Sarah Hayes said of Keene, “It has been a joy to watch Kara’s work come to fruition this last year. She possesses a rare combination of artistic vision, technical fluency and leadership. … I’m very excited to see where her work takes her next.”
When asked why she chose ASU, Keene said that — beyond the appeal of being much warmer than Massachusetts — it was ASU’s balance of being a large university that also had a strong, well-developed arts program that drew her to the school.
“I knew I wanted to major in something related to the arts, but I did not want to go to a school that only offered arts degrees. I wanted to be able to make friends with and work with students of all different backgrounds and skill sets,” Keene said.
“I also wanted to go to a big school so I would have lots to explore and do. Unfortunately, the arts programs at many big state schools are often very minimal or not given enough attention. I wanted to go to a school where I felt like the arts were actually valued, not added on as an afterthought.”
When asked what advice she would give to those still in school, Keene replied, “Try everything. … Whether it’s yoga, programming, woodworking, whatever it is, there is a place you can do that here. That’s the great thing about being at such a large school — you can always find something new to try and something new to learn.”
After graduation, Keene plans to move to Los Angeles, where she hopes to pursue a career in creative direction, particularly within the fashion and music industries.
