SA concerts explained

  Over the past four years I have worked within the Student Association in a variety of capacities, from the student Senate to a variety of jobs in the Executive Branch. I currently serve as the SA Programming Director and will explain the process of choosing music artists.
   Each year the Student Association receives a budget of $2 million from the Student Activity Fee. The Senate allocates the Activity Fee money to fund our (approximately) 200 student groups (including Five Quad, WCDB, Hillel, etc.), Dippikill wilderness retreat in the Adirondacks, club sports teams, intramural sports and student legal services. Additionally, there are funds allocated to the internal Student Association offices, including the Programming Office (concerts, Speaker Series, etc).
   It is rumored that a single person within SA picks each musical guest. However, the organization bases their decisions on a variety of surveys and focus groups (done each year) to determine the genre of music students would like to hear on campus. The Programming Director works with members of the Executive Branch to make a list of artists that are determined from our student feedback. Then we contact our booking agent who shares artists’ availability and prices. From there, we determine the concert artist.
   The Student Association is budgeted roughly $100,000 for the Fall Concert and $100,000 for the spring. Many would think that this amount is fairly high, but in reality it is not. Putting on a concert is very costly. On top of paying for the artist, SA is responsible to pay for security, sound, lights, stage, hospitality, catering, hotels, staff, and more. These outside production costs average about $50,000 per event. That leaves us with about $50,000 to use to book artists. An artist’s fee ranges from $100 (for a local band) to hundreds of thousands of dollars (for big names like Jay-Z, Kanye West, Dave Matthews, Lady Gaga, etc).
   With this in mind, we work diligently with our booking agency to find artists that appeal to our student body and fit within our budget. We keep our ticket prices low because students have already paid the Student Activity Fee. Student Association events are for UAlbany students only, so we can ensure that the activity fee is not used to entertain those who do not pay it. Additionally, our insurance policy only covers students that attend UAlbany. In short, we cannot allow the surrounding community to attend our events to create more revenue to pay for artists.
   To directly address many of the Facebook messages and e-mails that I have received: I would love to bring major artists like Lady Gaga or Jay-Z to UAlbany. However, for the reasons I have described throughout this article, the Student Association really cannot afford it. Because the Student Association has a budget, allocating more money into SA concerts would mean taking money away from student groups, other events and all of the many things that the Student Association funds.