So far, the Program Board has been on-task in preparation for the upcoming vote. Prior to Thanksgiving vacation, it hosted an open forum to get students’ direct input on bands to include on the ballot. Members of the board also took suggestions from the Daily Jolt forum, e-mail, the Confessional and word-of-mouth. Afterwards, the Board went through these suggestions to compile a list of artists that were within the proposed budget.
The Program Board then worked with booking agency Pretty Polly Productions, to determine the availability of artists and their willingness to perform at such a small venue. The bands that meet these criteria are on the ballot that students will see Thursday.
The list of bands on this year’s ballot will be divided into three genres: rock/pop, alternative and rap/R&B. Each genre will contain seven choices. During a 24-hour period, students will be able to select up to three bands in each genre. This vote will be run through the Senate’s voting system.
After the initial vote, the top three bands from each genre will be contacted again, in order to confirm that each is still available. The top nine artists still willing to perform at the College will then be put on a second ballot and the band with the most votes from this final vote will be offered a bid. If they accept, the Program Board will draw up a contract with them.
Program Board chair Jennifer Rybak ’10 told The Student that the group has tried to make the system more transparent, citing the open forum and e-mail correspondence as new methods for receiving more students’ input. “It’s helpful to know people’s suggestions,” she explained. “We’re happy to take comments and suggestions; both my e-mail and the ACPB e-mails are checked frequently.”
Another change from last year is that the Program Board is now working with the Senate voting system so that students can rank their choices. This will hopefully eliminate the runoffs that occurred with Third Eye Blind last year.
Many students expressed complaints about the concert last spring, some of which were about the venue, an issue that is, as of now, out of the Program Board’s control. The general consensus among complaining students has been that LeFrak Gymnasium, where the spring concert has been held, provides poor acoustics and uncomfortable spacing. Although many students would like the concert to be held elsewhere, it must be held in LeFrak because the concert venue has to be capable of holding the entire student body. LeFrak is the only place on campus that meets this requirement.
Although holding the concert outdoors seems a reasonable solution, it would be impossible according to Rybak. An outdoor concert would be subject to the weather; if there were even a chance of rain, the band would not set up and all the money spent would be lost. Additionally, there is not sufficient campus security to have an outdoor venue. The Program Board would have to hire town police, which would require a significant cost. Furthermore, if the concert were outside, production would be much more expensive, as it would require a generator and other extra equipment. Noise complaints would also be a problem. If even one town resident or student complained, the concert would have to be shut down.
The College is incapable of running concerts like those at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst because of basic differences in the two colleges’ systems. Mullin Center at UMass is run by a private company, so the majority of concerts there are not college-sponsored events. In addition, the Amherst College Program Board does not have as large of a budget.
A concert, regardless of which band performs, is a very expensive endeavor. A large portion of the cost actually is fixed: production costs hover around $20,000 to $25,000. Added to this cost is the actual price of the band, which can range between $10,000 and $60,000. The cost of Third Eye Blind last spring was about $60,000.
The price of each band will be on this Thursday’s ballot. It will be up to students to decide which band they want to perform and how much they want the Program Board to spend — which is why voting is important. For students’ convenience during the eventual final vote, the Program Board will have three laptops set up in Keefe Campus Center that students may use to vote.