Posted: Thursday, April 11, 2013
For those of you unfamiliar, Big Event is a campus tradition that brings some kind of large act to campus. Past acts included Lewis Black, Ben Folds, Guster and Better than Ezra, Ben Kweller, Girl Talk and Reel Big Fish, and Gym Class Heroes. In its initial conception, Big Event was supposed to happen every other year: a typical (if typical is a word I can use to describe us) Lawrentian would get to see 2 Big Events over their time here.
Last year’s Big Event encountered some difficulties. $40,000 was set aside by LUCC over the course of the 09-10 and 10-11 school years ($20,000 each year) with the intent of Big Event occurring during 10-11 school year. The $40,000 proved insufficient to draw any of the acts Big Event Committee was considering to Lawrence. During the 11-12 Budget process, LUCC gave Big Event another $10,000 in the hopes $50,000 would be able to get a suitable act.
Big Event Committee got Gym Class Heroes as the headliner with The Oxymorons opening. They performed for a sold out crowd of 500 students in Esch-Hurvis. Each of those students paid an additional $5 for their ticket. There was some criticism of the band choice, the idea that students had to pay an additional amount, and the choice of venue.
As we come upon the budget process again, I’m asking the campus if Big Event is something our campus wants. There’s nothing that says Big Event must happen. It’s a tradition that may or may not make sense to the present Lawrence. And so the question is: is the $40,000-50,000 of Student Activity fees, our money, being used in a way we want?
I’m looking for opinions, criticism, witty remarks, and any other feedback you feel is relevant. LUCC will be doing polling over the next week but I’d like to get this conversation started. Here are some of the other options we’ve had proposed. Any of these choices or a combination of some/all of them are possible.
1. Make LU-Aroo a much larger event. This year and last year LU-Aroo received ten thousand dollars. With the $20,000 given yearly to the Big Event fund, LU-Aroo could range up to $30,000, strengthening a thoroughly enjoyed Lawrence tradition.
2. Create some kind of Lawrence Improvement Fund. Up to 20,000 would be funnelled into a fund and students could then apply for grants from the fund to improve aspects of Lawrence. Maybe it’s furnishing a new non-Conservatory band practice space. Maybe we create a bike-share program. Maybe every Lawrentian gets a nice scarf.
3. We can put the $20,000 back into the Student Activity Fund LUCC gives out to Student Organizations every year.
