With an annual budget of $375,000, the Carolina Union Activities Board has a stated goal of spending all the money on programs that reach and benefit as many students on campus as possible. CUAB recently announced a proposal to spend a significant portion of the 2013-14 budget to fund one big concert-style event in the spring, rather than organizing multiple, smaller events that would take place every month.
This proposal should be supported because students would be more inclined to attend University-sponsored events if a popular artist were brought in, rather than a musician who isn’t as well-known. And because concert revenue is used to offset the price of the event, a revenue increase from a popular event would go further in alleviating costs incurred from organizing the event.
Having a big event in the spring doesn’t mean that CUAB will not continue to organize numerous, small events every month; it just means that fewer of them will be arranged. By focusing efforts and funding on one event, students and CUAB both benefit as students will be more likely to enjoy the event and CUAB will minimize financial losses.
An essential step that should be taken in order for these events to be as successful as possible is for CUAB to continue using student feedback in planning and ensure that performers are widely popular among the student body. This could be difficult with the broad range of tastes present among students, but a possible solution, budget permitting, could include multiple artists. Either way, students and CUAB would both enjoy the benefits of an additional Homecoming-esque spring concert.
