Christmas arrived early this year for the folks at Campus
Events. Thanks to last week’s passing of the Undergraduate
Students Association Council’s student fee referendum, the
organization will finally receive the budget boost it sorely needs
to keep up with the rising costs of providing high quality concerts
for students.
The referendum, which was approved by 57.2 percent of the votes,
calls for an extra $27.75 from students each year, which amounts to
$210,000 of additional funding for student programming. Campus
Events Commissioner Ryan Wilson, co-writer of a similar referendum
last spring that suffered from insufficient voter turnout, is
relieved that his efforts are finally paying dividends.
“We built a signboard and people got dressed up on
Halloween to pass out flyers. The more things people started to do,
the better feeling I had. I’m just happy almost 5,000 people
voted,” Wilson said.
According to Wilson, the price to book an artist of national
caliber has increased significantly since 1985, the last time
Campus Events saw a hike in its budget.
“Even your Jurassic 5-type bands need five to ten thousand
dollars a performance,” Wilson said. “It’s hard
to do a big concert without risking losing a lot of money. We might
lose programming for the entire year if that one show doesn’t
do well. That’s why the referendum is important, so we would
have the capital to put into a large show and keep programming at a
high level.”
Since the mid-1990s, the artists appearing at the Cooperage and
Westwood Plaza have been less prominent than their 1980s
predecessors due to the growing risk of booking big-name acts. This
roll-of-the-dice mentality will be greatly alleviated with the
additional funding ““ allowing Wilson to revive the presence
of Campus Events with higher profile performers.
One of the biggest names to perform this quarter was
Blackalicious, commanding a price tag of around $5,000.
“They’re the type of artists UCLA wants to see
““ bands that are on the cusp of mainstream but still
underground,” Wilson said. “To keep on the level of
Blackalicious, we have to stay competitive. They can go to clubs
and make just as much. We have to make it worth their while to come
to UCLA.”
Campus Events is currently holding meetings to decide how to
better utilize this gift. Wilson pointed out that the extra cash
comes in handy during instances when Campus Events is a few hundred
dollars short of booking a band. Advertising, which sometimes costs
more than the bands, will also reap the benefits.
“The breakdown for us will probably have the departments
in most dire need getting more money than others,” Wilson
said. “For example, the film program is pretty much stable
because rentals are at a fixed price. We can program all the films
on our current budget. The concerts, speakers and advertising
departments are where we’re going to need the most
money.”
Plans are under way for rewarding students with a higher and
more consistent level of entertainment. Thus students need not
worry about waiting interminably for the results of their
dollars.
“One thing my staff is excited about is getting a really
big-name act to come here,” Wilson said. “Our concert
staff is really anxious to find out the exact breakdown because
they want to start calling artists for spring … We have a lot of
creative minds on our staff that come up with great ideas, but we
often lacked the resources.”