Student Entertainment Events has always strived to provide the student body with diverse programs while branding the SEE name at the university. However, I fear our mission and the fact that we are a student-run programming board has been lost in the eyes of the university community.
Our mission as an organization is to provide programs for the community and bring entertainment to students at a price they can afford. The SEE executive board is made up of 33 student directors and, like the student body, we are a varied group. We program large- and small-scale concerts, comedy shows, lectures, cinema, special events and performing arts events. We conduct student surveys to make informed decisions, and our programming directors must report these findings to the executive board when proposing an event. Over the past two years some of our larger-scale events have featured Matisyahu, Weezer, Girl Talk, Gabriel Iglesias, Demetri Martin, Maya Angelou, Russell Simmons, Chiddy Bang and Mike Posner.
When we consider who to bring for our events, specifically our large annual events, we want to bring someone who is going to appeal to a lot of people. Each year, Art Attack draws thousands to Byrd Stadium, and we honestly believe this year’s event, headlined by Nelly, will be no different. We estimate that this year’s crowd will be similar to the crowd in 2009 for Ludacris. Although at the time Ludacris had not released with a song of his own in years, he still drew 7,007 people to Byrd. In contrast, not only does Nelly have a number of hits from back in the day, he released a new album, 5.0, last year.
The scale of entertainer many students at this university wish to see for Art Attack could cost about a third of our entire budget. This is not a feasible option because our budget is split among several types of programming. Last year, we were fortunate to receive funding from an outside promoter to book Weezer and Ben Folds for Art Attack XXVII. Unfortunately, the promoter did not benefit from the concert as it had hoped, so this was not an option again this year. We work with promoters, find corporate sponsors and co-sponsor events with student groups, all so that we can better serve the student body.
SEE is one of the most well-funded student organizations, so we can understand students’ desire to be a part of our processes. Unfortunately, our lack of transparency is a necessary evil. Performers do not want their talent fees, personal information and riders released to the public, and to have entertainment at this school, we must follow these guidelines. Our Student Government Association funding is determined by a working group of SEE and SGA members, and if they cannot come to an agreement, the funding is then determined by the SGA legislature. We are held accountable for our event choices because our funding depends on the success of our past events, which is dependent on the interest of the student body.
As an organization, we are sincerely interested in hearing from students about their entertainment preferences. Filling out our surveys, joining our Facebook fan page or listserv or becoming a part of our organization are great ways to become involved and have your voice heard. Every stage we build, every heated discussion we have, every hour we put in — it really is all for the student body, and we are always looking for people who want to be a part of that.
Laura Brant is a senior physiology and neurobiology major and is president of SEE. She can be reached at seepresident at umd dot edu.
