Ampersand festival’s ‘Industry Summit’ blends inspiration with instruction

A creative "buffet" led by working professionals - most of them William & Mary alumni - invites participants to move from audience to practitioner.

Jenny Hagel will do her live comedy show "Jenny Hagel Gives Advice" at the 2026 Ampersand Festival

See a movie; make a movie. Laugh at a joke; learn how to tell one. Read a story; write one.

That hands-on philosophy is the driving force behind the Industry Summit, a weeklong series of free workshops and seminars offered during the 2026 Ampersand International Arts Festival, March 16-22 in Williamsburg. (Read an overview of the featured events here.)

Designed as a creative "buffet" led by working professionals - most of them William & Mary alumni - the summit invites participants to move from audience to practitioner - whether that means drafting a short story, composing a joke or storyboarding a documentary film.

Among the featured presenters is William & Mary alumna Jenny Hagel '98, an Emmy-nominated writer and performer on NBC's Late Night with Seth Meyers. Hagel will host her live show, "Jenny Hagel Gives Advice," and lead a workshop on writing jokes for late-night monologues.

"It's a very specific type of writing like you see on (Saturday Night Live's) 'Weekend Update' or award shows or even a joke you would tell at the beginning of a speech," Hagel said. "It's so much easier to think about how to structure a joke if somebody breaks it down for you first."

Her session will dissect the anatomy of a joke - setup, turn and punchline - before participants try crafting their own.

"We'll take a look at the structure and then immediately put it into practice," she said. "It's exciting to show people that this isn't magic. It's craft."

A festival that grew - and evolved

The Ampersand festival evolved from the former William & Mary Global Film Festival and now draws roughly 3,000 participants annually. The gathering of prominent and emerging artists is sponsored by the City of Williamsburg with support from William & Mary, the W&M Alumni Association, Colonial Williamsburg and the Muscarelle Museum of Art.

The 2026 industry summit offers guidance in fields including fiction writing, freelance photography, documentary film production, playwriting, collage-making and comedy writing. Most of the instructors are William & Mary alumni now working professionally in creative industries.

A full list of programs is available here. Sessions are free and open to the public, with no reservations required. All events take place at the Entrepreneurship Hub in Tribe Square, unless otherwise noted.

The idea, organizers say, is to create pathways between inspiration and execution - allowing attendees to learn from artists who are actively navigating careers in the arts.

A return to her roots

For Hagel, who grew up in Puerto Rico and Northern Virginia, the festival is also a homecoming.

"I'm so excited to be part of this," she said. "I love Williamsburg, and William & Mary really shaped me as a person. Doing improv there taught me about connecting, being supportive and really listening, which has informed how I act in every part of my life."

She credits the university's strong sense of community - and a still-emerging campus improv scene in the late 1990s - with helping her discover her path.

"It felt new and niche at the time," she said. "Not every campus had it yet. I was really lucky to land at a college where I could find my way to theater and comedy."

Hagel went on to write for Meyers' show and served as head writer for The Amber Ruffin Show. She has also written for "Impractical Jokers" and won a 2022 Sports Emmy as a producer of digital content for the Olympic Games.

In June, she will release a book of essays titled "Advice No One Asked For," a collection blending humor and practical wisdom - from how to write a wedding toast to calling your mom to say thanks to putting paper plates on your baby shower registry because you will be too tired to wash dishes once your newborn arrives.

Traditions, old and new

Hagel is equally excited about revisiting her favorite Williamsburg traditions.

"There are things I must do," she said, "like run down Duke of Gloucester Street, get bread ends and house dressing at The Cheese Shop, buy an alarmingly cheap pitcher of beer at Paul's and think back on the days when improv was really a new art form on campuses - and then celebrate how far it's come."

As the industry summit returns, that blend of nostalgia and forward momentum reflects the festival's broader mission: to honor creative roots while equipping the next generation of artists with tools to help them succeed. For attendees, it's a chance not just to admire the arts - but to step into them.

Susan Corbett, Communications Specialist

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