As part of Blue and Gold Week, the Canadian band Tokyo Police Club is holding a concert at Bruin Plaza today. Assistant News Editor JJ Yang spoke with George Chacon, commissioner for the Cultural Affairs Commission, which co-sponsors the event with the Campus Events Commission to talk about the concert and other programs the office sponsors.
Daily Bruin: So how has your office been promoting the event?
George Chacon: We helped today as me and my staff were fliering. The concert has been more heavily marketed by the Campus Events Commission.
DB: So how does Cultural Affairs differ from Campus Events?
GC: If you look at our mission statement, (Cultural Affairs) always try to address issues that students are facing. We were based on social justice and in trying to diversify the campus. We started during the ’60s when all that stuff was going down. In my opinion, when you learn about other cultures you start to learn about yours.
DB: So where’s the cultural twist in the Tokyo Police Club?
GC: Are we always gonna do issue-based concerts with all our programming? Of course not. I always want to entertain the student body as well as educate.
DB: What are the responsibilities of the Cultural Affairs Commissioner?
GC: The responsibilities are putting on cultural programming that is important to students on this campus, to educate students on the diversity we have on this campus, the cultural significance that we have in Los Angeles, to also give students an avenue to express themselves whether artistically or musically, and to give students a space for them to express their views and express their culture.
DB: So what are the specific programs you put on?
GC: We do that in a variety of ways. We have our weekly Jazz series, Eclectic Open Mic Night series, and we give students a space to do whatever they want and show UCLA students that certain genres of music are not dead. We also have other ways of giving students entertainment but with a cultural relevance to it. There’s Hip-Hop Appreciation Week every year where we address certain issues in the African American community. We have WorldFest, which in my view exemplifies Cultural Affairs by bringing student groups together and sharing their culture together. During that week, we have a cultural showcase where different groups do their singing to express themselves. And of course, we have the Jazz Reggae Festival, one of the largest student-run festivals in California.
DB: Were these programs already in place when you were elected?
GC: All of them were already in place; it’s been building up. We have new series, of course. Dialogue on Diversity expresses the need to open up communication on certain issues that all students face but don’t have the space to talk about it. A new thing I’m doing are the Special Events components to really try to diversify the types of arts and music that we want to bring to UCLA. We’re trying to get in touch with metal and punk bands more. We did last year when we got Sigur Ros. Another thing I’m trying to do is co-program with Campus Events.
DB: What sort of music has your office traditionally sponsored?
GC: Traditionally, people look to Cultural Affairs as the hip-hop and urban programmer while Campus Events does the indie scene. That’s the perception. Our marketing strategies might have students perceiving us as being hip-hop orientated. What I’m trying to do is open up our marketing strategy and get people excited about the music that’s coming on.
DB: What made you run for this position?
GC: Growing up in Los Angeles, I was always surrounded by different cultures and ethnicities. I was always open-minded towards that, and I learned to see from other peoples’ eyes. The more I did that, the more I learned about my own culture in terms of being a Latino. Through high school, I really learned more about other cultures. In college, I was in both a Latino group and a Filipino group. It’s great to see both sides, to see the different views of different groups. During my second year, I joined Cultural Affairs as part of the Hip Hop Congress. I learned that all musical modes of expression are valid. For me to run for this position was a testament of where I came from and what I learned as student.