Editor’s Note: Joe Giannini is the liberal arts representative and is no longer the executive vice president.
2012 marks the 10th anniversary of USI’s SpringFest; however, the SpringFest committee is experiencing budget woes. The committee currently has $30,500.
Last year’s SpringFest cost $170,000.
“At this point, we are optimistic,” said Joe Giannini, SpringFest committee student director and Student Government Association (SGA) executive vice president.
The committee relies on donations from various campus organizations to fund the festivity.
Giannini said the university donates $15,000 and Business Affairs Vice President Mark Rozewski donates $15,000.
The actual amount each body contributes varies from year to year.
In the past, SGA has given $3,500-10,000, and Activities Programing Board (APB) has given to nothing to $15,000.
Only 3,000 tickets can be sold for each concert. So even if tickets cost as low as $20 per stub, the committee could stand to make about $60,000.
“That happens if we sell out,” Giannini said. “The only time we’ve sold out was 2008 with Dashboard Confessional.”
To put on a single event, composed mainly of a concert, the cost would reach past $70,000.
To put on the whole weekend, the cost ranges from $150,000-160,000.
“Usually we make a profit each year, so we just use that money rolling over to help.” said Kristin Bourke, SpringFest committee member and advertising major.
Last year was the only year SpringFest did not make any money back. In fact, $70,000 was lost, Bourke said.
Giannini said last year’s turnout was smaller than expected.
Bourke said she thinks the low turnout was due to the economy dip in 2008, which led to a downturn in the budget for 2009 and 2010 which ultimately forced the cancellation of SpringFest 2009.
“We’re trying to get the community organizations involved,” Bourke said.
Bourke said they want to bring in other people to help out and make it more of a community affair.
If the committee manages to break through the current budget concerns, the actual planning of the event will begin in November.
“I wanted to begin earlier,” Giannini said, “I wanted to know the potential artists before we went into winter break.”
He also said the committee has recently focused on the genres of hip-hop and country music, but alternative is still “kept open.”
“We can’t have certain people due to their criminal background,” Bourke said. “USI does not want anyone that has a criminal background. Like, we could never get Little Wayne. We want to get good clean artists who have good music. We also want to make sure that each night we have somebody that’s a different genre.”
The selection process for the musicians begins with a survey on Facebook, Twitter and a walking survey around campus.
“We usually take 10 percent of the student body as enough to consider an artist,”Giannini said. “This year we want 30 to 40 percent.”
The SpringFest committee is currently requesting a location change for the upcoming festival.
“We’re going to change the location of everything,” Bourke said. “If USI allows us, we’d like to make it more centralized so people know exactly where everything is.”
Giannini said they would like to make use of the parking lots and the rugby fields.
“We want to move the carnival and the booths over to the C parking lot, right in front of the PAC,” Bourke said. “We’d also like to put the smaller concerts on the grass right next to the PAC.”
This will be the 10th anniversary of Springfest if it is not cancelled and 10 years is a “big deal for USI,” Bourke said.
“In a smaller university, organizations come and go, but Springfest is huge,” she said.
“I think you can ink-in April 13 & 14, 2012 for Springfest on campus,” SpringFest adviser Tim Buecher said.
