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TUES, 29 OCT 2002

Mission Impossible: Board stuggles to satisfy
By Kaycee Murray
For the Argonaut

Big events cost big money, and that’s something the ASUI Productions Board knows quite well. Money is one issue the board deals with, but the big problem is finding events that cater to most students’ needs.

Cassandra Byington, Productions Board chair, said choosing events is intimidating.

“You get excited about an event and you want to try to get students as excited as the board is, and then you feel responsible and embarrassed when no one shows up,” she said.

This year the board has decided to focus even more on promotions in order to raise more awareness about events on campus. They also have accepted applications from all students that apply to be on the board.

Amy Newcomb, coordinator of Student Programs, said that although they accept everyone, they are not voting members until they help out with three events. She explained the point of accepting more members is to get a more representative group of the students in order to choose events, such as concerts, that more students will attend.

Newcomb said planning concerts on the UI campus is tricky.

“Students on this campus have not demonstrated a consistency with buying tickets,” Newcomb said.

Half of the 2,000 tickets sold for the Nickel Creek concert in September were purchased by students, while community members and visitors from out of town bought the other half. Nickel Creek cost the board $15,000 to bring to campus. They charged students $5 ($10 for the floor).

Cami Blakely, a senior majoring in finance, said she enjoyed the band and would like to see more concerts in the Kibbie Dome.

“It was a great thing to do in Moscow and the band was unique and fun,” she said.

Although attendance was high for the concert, the board did not come close to breaking even. Byington said that’s rarely the case.

When planning large events such as Nickel Creek, the board knows it will lose money, Newcomb said. The question they must ask themselves is how much they can lose while still providing enough programming for students.

Byington said students on campus are always asking why acts such as Dave Matthews can’t play at UI, and the answer is simply money. She said it’s hard to know that bands like Dave Matthews are going to make enough money to offset their costs of more than $100,000.

The price of tickets would have to be quite large for such an event.

Four dollars of student fees are allocated to the board, so Newcomb and Byington think ticket prices should remain low.

“Why should we make students pay large amounts for tickets when some of their fees are already allocated to the board?” Newcomb said.

Concerts are not the only thing the Productions Board provides for students. The board also is responsible for the coffeehouse concerts, lectures and performing arts, blockbuster films and special events such as the recent free screening of “Red Dragon” earlier this month at the Kenworthy Theatre in downtown Moscow.

The blockbuster films that run Friday and Saturday nights offer students low movie ticket prices and the board rarely breaks even. Newcomb said costs for movies like “Minority Report” will run the board close to $1,200; since they only charge students $2 per ticket, they are lucky to receive half what it costs the board to show the film.

Byington said for the most part the films have reliable crowds, along with the coffeehouse series, which is a showcase of local and regional musicians. The concerts and lectures are what the board has trouble predicting what students will want.

Newcomb said the board has no clue what students will actually attend. Last year Lezra Martin, the subject of the movie “The Hurricane,” spoke on campus during Black History Month, and the board was sure he would be a hit.

“We were embarrassed when there were only around 50 in attendance. It looks bad on the university when students don’t show up,” Newcomb said.

The board’s main purpose is to provide programming to students, and the tricky part is figuring out what students want and what they will attend.

“Booking shows is not about what the board wants, it’s about what the students want for a price we can all afford,” Newcomb said.

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