Voting opened last week for SpringFest.
The SpringFest committee selected 37 possible acts. Those act include artist such as 3OH!3, Ludacris, and Josh Turner and 34 other acts on the ballot.
With the help of the Office of Planning, Research, and Assessment the SpringFest committee developed a survey to give to the student body. The surveys were sent out Oct. 20 and Friday is the last day for voting. Each student can vote once, and they can choose up to three artists.
“This year we wanted to make (SpringFest) as flawless as possible,” said SpringFest Co-student Director Joe Giannini. “Last year we did it by genre, but we wanted to pull away from that and just say what do the people want to hear,” he said.
After the voting closes the top three acts with highest votes will receive bids. The SpringFest will then choose two artists to perform.
If the number one and number two acts are of the same genre they well go to the number three act to add more of a variety of music so every student can have something they enjoy.
The committee does not pick the artists themselves, but sends their budget to a talent agency called Concert Ideas and from there Concert Ideas gives the committee a list of artists they can afford.
SpringFest’s current budget is around $100,000 for two nights.
Some of the artists on the list might turn out to be openers for the main acts, it just depends their price, availability and if the main act brings their own tour package, which has happened in the past.
This is the tenth year SpringFest will be held so the committee wants it to be the best year yet.
“It’s going to be big, we don’t know what we’re going to do yet, but its going to be big,” Giannini said.
The spring fest commitee is also planning on bringing back USidol, which is USI’s version of American Idol. USidol started in 2004 and was part of Springfest until last year.
“We always give a cash reward, and the talent just comes out of the wood works. It’s really impersive how much vocal talent we have on this campus,” Buecher said.
Relocation is still on the table for SpringFest. The SpringFest committee wants to bring the rides and stage up closer to campus to move it from lot K and L to Lot C and putting the outside stage on the lawn of the Physical Activity Center or even moving it to the rugy field so people can see it from the highway.
The committee isn’t sure on were it would be located just yet.
“There are some good things about having it in Lot K and L, it’s all self contained down there, we pretty much have it all to ourselves,” Buecher said. “If we moved it to Lot C, we would be a lot more visible, but we would probably have to start our actives later in the day because of classes, so we’re just looking at alternative locations.“
“As far as the diversity between pop, rock, and country that it was a pretty decent list,” said, Wes McKinney a sophmore in computer information systems.
The springfest meetings are held in the bottom of the Orr Center in from 0095.
“its our tenth year, we would like to see it be the biggest ever, i personally would like to see it be the biggest year ever because if i retire i would like to walk way from here knowing that this baby is on it’s way to be here for a long times,”Beucher said.
“Our student body needs more opportunities to stay here, and do things they enjoy rather than pack a suitcase and head to another campus,” Beucher said.
“Whichever students step up and take over these indivdual committees, the ones that are responsible for where do we hold springfest, go forward to the administration and say have it here, here, or here instead of there,” Beucher said.
