With an intricate light show behind him, Mat Kearney performs hits from the "Young Love" album during last year's AS funded concert. This year, due to budget cuts, there will be no campus-wide concert other than the Eddy. | Olivia Blinn/THE CHIMES
After a disappointing turnout for last year’s fall concert, Associated Students will not be hosting the event this year, according to AS president Evan Tan and AS vice president of finance Gianna Pacini.
Last year’s artist, Mat Kearney, generated only 800 ticket sales, Tan said. Originally, AS had anticipated more than 1,000 attendees, as the Chimes reported last year.
“We feel for the cost to put [a concert] on, there wasn’t enough student interest in it. We expected last year for ticket sales to be much higher than they ended up being,” Pacini said. “We want to … provide student events that students actually want to attend, and that wasn’t the impression we got from the attendance last year.”
Rather than spend the money on another event, the funds that would have gone toward the concert were not included in the budget for this year, and were simply reallocated to other sections of the budget, Pacini said.
Part of what contributed to the decision to not host a fall concert are the noise ordinances enacted by the City of La Mirada, according to Pacini. As the law becomes more restrictive, more obstacles arise.
“They’re having more difficult rules to comply with, as far as outside events go … and then the gym space and other spaces on campus are in high demand, so it’s very difficult to put on more large-scale events than we already do,” she said.
The Eddy is one ongoing event that will benefit from the transfer of funds from the fall concert, Pacini said.
“We allowed a little more money to the other Eddys that we’re putting on,” Pacini said. “So, instead of having one big concert and smaller Eddys, we’re having a little bit bigger Eddys, like the level of artists that we’re going to bring in.”
Another change in AS’ structure is the possibility of increasing the student fee by the miniscule increment of $3. However, multiplied by approximately 4,000 students, the small adjustment could result in a large income. The increase would be implemented to make up for costs being driven up by inflation, according to Tan.
“All sorts of expenses are going up all over campus, so in that way it is a cut,” he said. “Our budget is a flat rate of student fee, so our budget stays pretty much the same, while all the other costs are rising due to inflation.”
Full-time tuition for the 2013-2014 school year is $16,071 per semester, according to Biola’s financial aid web page. The student fee is based on a sliding scale depending on whether a student is full time or part time, Pacini added, so that status contributes to how much a student is charged. The monies from the student fee go toward funding AS events, such as Punk ‘n Pie and concerts.
One of the budget sections that received extended funding was clubs, according to Pacini. The actual amount of money going to clubs will not be defined until next week, when club leaders will petition for funds, said AS clubs coordinator Jordan Keiter.
