CUAB Jubilee act, funding ‘up in the air’

This past Homecoming week maintained many of UNC’s traditions. But one thing was missing — the Homecoming concert. 

This year, the Carolina Union Activities Board decided to do away with the fall concert in order to invest more money and, ultimately, make the spring Jubilee concert bigger. 

The week after UNC’s Homecoming, CUAB is still in the process of organizing Jubilee and has not yet decided upon a venue or artist.

It released a poll on Sept. 4 asking students which artist they would like to see perform at this year’s concert. The poll closed on Sept. 26.

Although CUAB has the results from the 1,578 students who responded, it will not release the information until it has more details regarding the board’s budget.  

“The venue will dictate a lot of things about Jubilee,” said Boateng Kubi, vice president of outreach and public relations for CUAB. 

The amount of money CUAB can spend on an artist depends on how much of the budget remains after venue prices are accounted for. 

“The budget is very flexible and up in the air,” Kubi said. 

Kubi said CUAB is still looking for venues, but Jubilee will definitely not be on Hooker Fields like it was last year. The board is hoping to have more information within the next few weeks. 

“I’m kind of frustrated because I was looking forward to going if they had gotten a big name this year,” said Matthew Newman, a junior biology and political science double major. “But it’s kind of made up for the fact that there’s probably going to be a big spring concert like there was last year.” 

Sophomore Mary Margaret Evans didn’t know there wasn’t going to be a Homecoming concert this year. 

“If it’s a good act, then I think we should definitely have (the artists),” Evans said. “But if it’s just like we’re going to spend money on an event that not many people are going to come to, then I don’t think it’s that important.” 

Evans, who went to the spring concert last year, said she remembers there was a fall concert but did not attend. 

“I don’t know who came last year, but I remember a lot of people didn’t really think it was a great act,” she said. “I just think it would be better to have an act that everyone wanted to see and would have a really great turnout than spend money on two lesser-known acts.” 

Kubi said he believes the other Homecoming activities made up for the absence of a concert, and that people are excited for a big spring concert. 

“It was not as negative as you would expect,” Kubi said. 

He said last year’s board decided to test out having a Homecoming concert and spring Jubilee concert in the same year. 

The weather and atmosphere of the springtime contributed to Jubilee’s success in the spring 2015 semester. 

Kubi said he hopes CUAB will be able to emulate last year’s success by making the concert bigger this spring. 

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