Spring Fair books State Radio for concert
State Radio and Forever the Sickest Kids will be performing at the Spring Fair outdoor concert on April 23.
Concert organizers admitted that the acts are not well-known, a result of limited funding and a desire to cater the band selection to what students requested through polling.
"The reason why we're not having as big an act is because ticket sales last year were down," Spring Fair Executive Co-Chair Zach Senders said.
He estimated that only around 1000 tickets were sold for The Roots concert last year. Between 1,800 and 2,000 tickets were sold for the concert featuring Reel Big Fish and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony in 2008.
"If people like the concert and want a bigger act, the best thing they can do is buy tickets," Senders said. "Every dollar from tickets sold to students goes directly into purchasing an act. It goes right back into a fund that's used to bid on an act for next year."
While Spring Fair organizers would not speak to the specific costs for each act, Senders said that the cost of State Radio was less than The Roots.
The budget for all of Spring Fair is estimated at around $50,000. According to Senders, each year Spring Fair receives $10,000 from the Hopkins Organization for Programming (HOP) and the Student Government Association (SGA).
This year, requests for additional funding brought in $5,000 from HOP and an undisclosed amount from SGA.
To compensate for the money lost last year, the committee worked on different fundraising strategies, including soliciting corporations for money.
Concert Co-Chair Shant Keskinyan used a connection at the company that produces Vitamin Water to negotiate a sponsorship
In years past, Keskinyan (who is also a staff writer for The News-Letter) felt that organizers chose the act "based on what was hot out at the time. However, this year, we really wanted the student body to vote so we could have a good grasp on what bands we should pursue."
Senders estimated that around 1,500 students participated in the first polling, where most students said they were most willing to see an alternative rock band.
Around 900 participated in the second polling, which narrowed down the preferred genre to indie and pop acts.
Main act State Radio is a Boston-based indie rock band that is heavily involved in political activism and is fronted by Chicoree Stokes, a former member of the band Dispatch.
The opening act, Forever the Sickest Kids, is a pop-punk act from Dallas, Texas. The winner of this week's Hopkins Battle of the Bands competition will be the opener for the two acts.
State Radio manager Dalton Sim could not be reached for comment before press time.
Keskinyan felt that State Radio was the best choice in the alt-rock category. He described Forever the Sickest Kids as an energetic, up-and-coming band.
"They recently played at Warped Tour two years ago. They're about to blow up," Keskinyan said.
This year, tickets will be available for purchase online.
According to concert co-chair Aaron Noparstak, student tickets will cost $15 if purchased before a cutoff date.
"The date has not been decided yet, but it is likely that it will be around two weeks before the fair," he wrote in an e-mail to The News-Letter.
After this point, ticket prices will increase to around $20 to $22, though the final price has not been set. Tickets for the general public will cost $25.
"We have established a ticketing website that will allow students to sign in with their JHEM usernames in order to receive the discount. We are trying to set up a means to verify students at other schools so we can offer them discounts as well," Noparstak wrote.
With this change to online sales, Senders said he hopes getting tickets will be more convenient.
"It makes the hassle of students coming to Mattin not an issue this year. Instead, you can just enter your credit card information online," he said.
In order to boost ticket sales for this year, Senders said the committee is looking at various different fundraising options, including getting more community involvement and advertising at other local universities.
"Internally, we're going to flyer a lot," Senders said. "Were going to probably hold some events going up to Spring Fair and have ticket giveaways."
While the Hopkins students interviewed by The News-Letter were not very familiar with State Radio, some were looking forward to the performance.
For freshman Caitlin Fuchs-Rosner, State Radio's reputation as a politically-conscious band holds some appeal.
"I feel like I might go for the experience, even though I'm a Republican," Fuchs-Rosner said. The political science major was intrigued. "I'll probably go more, now that I know they're political."
Sophomore Warren Elgort was looking forward to seeing which band from Hopkins would be playing at the concert. During his attendance at last year's concert, Elgort was disappointed by the outdoor set up.
"You can't hear everything that's going on," he said. "It wasn't conducive to having a good time. It was a real let down. I hope that whoever opens does a good job."
Freshman Nicky DePaul was puzzled by the committee's choice. He said he was hoping for a band that would be more interesting for listeners.
"It's not that I don't like State Radio. It's just that I really wished they had pushed the boundaries a little bit more," DePaul said.
"Last year, they had the Roots, and that's a really influential band at this point. State Radio caters to a pretty small audience, albeit a college audience, an East Coast college audience. I was really hoping they'd try to broaden people's musical understanding this year, and they didn't."
However, DePaul added, "I'm going to go. If it's good weather I'll be out there."
Concert organizers admitted that the acts are not well-known, a result of limited funding and a desire to cater the band selection to what students requested through polling.
"The reason why we're not having as big an act is because ticket sales last year were down," Spring Fair Executive Co-Chair Zach Senders said.
He estimated that only around 1000 tickets were sold for The Roots concert last year. Between 1,800 and 2,000 tickets were sold for the concert featuring Reel Big Fish and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony in 2008.
"If people like the concert and want a bigger act, the best thing they can do is buy tickets," Senders said. "Every dollar from tickets sold to students goes directly into purchasing an act. It goes right back into a fund that's used to bid on an act for next year."
While Spring Fair organizers would not speak to the specific costs for each act, Senders said that the cost of State Radio was less than The Roots.
The budget for all of Spring Fair is estimated at around $50,000. According to Senders, each year Spring Fair receives $10,000 from the Hopkins Organization for Programming (HOP) and the Student Government Association (SGA).
This year, requests for additional funding brought in $5,000 from HOP and an undisclosed amount from SGA.
To compensate for the money lost last year, the committee worked on different fundraising strategies, including soliciting corporations for money.
Concert Co-Chair Shant Keskinyan used a connection at the company that produces Vitamin Water to negotiate a sponsorship
In years past, Keskinyan (who is also a staff writer for The News-Letter) felt that organizers chose the act "based on what was hot out at the time. However, this year, we really wanted the student body to vote so we could have a good grasp on what bands we should pursue."
Senders estimated that around 1,500 students participated in the first polling, where most students said they were most willing to see an alternative rock band.
Around 900 participated in the second polling, which narrowed down the preferred genre to indie and pop acts.
Main act State Radio is a Boston-based indie rock band that is heavily involved in political activism and is fronted by Chicoree Stokes, a former member of the band Dispatch.
The opening act, Forever the Sickest Kids, is a pop-punk act from Dallas, Texas. The winner of this week's Hopkins Battle of the Bands competition will be the opener for the two acts.
State Radio manager Dalton Sim could not be reached for comment before press time.
Keskinyan felt that State Radio was the best choice in the alt-rock category. He described Forever the Sickest Kids as an energetic, up-and-coming band.
"They recently played at Warped Tour two years ago. They're about to blow up," Keskinyan said.
This year, tickets will be available for purchase online.
According to concert co-chair Aaron Noparstak, student tickets will cost $15 if purchased before a cutoff date.
"The date has not been decided yet, but it is likely that it will be around two weeks before the fair," he wrote in an e-mail to The News-Letter.
After this point, ticket prices will increase to around $20 to $22, though the final price has not been set. Tickets for the general public will cost $25.
"We have established a ticketing website that will allow students to sign in with their JHEM usernames in order to receive the discount. We are trying to set up a means to verify students at other schools so we can offer them discounts as well," Noparstak wrote.
With this change to online sales, Senders said he hopes getting tickets will be more convenient.
"It makes the hassle of students coming to Mattin not an issue this year. Instead, you can just enter your credit card information online," he said.
In order to boost ticket sales for this year, Senders said the committee is looking at various different fundraising options, including getting more community involvement and advertising at other local universities.
"Internally, we're going to flyer a lot," Senders said. "Were going to probably hold some events going up to Spring Fair and have ticket giveaways."
While the Hopkins students interviewed by The News-Letter were not very familiar with State Radio, some were looking forward to the performance.
For freshman Caitlin Fuchs-Rosner, State Radio's reputation as a politically-conscious band holds some appeal.
"I feel like I might go for the experience, even though I'm a Republican," Fuchs-Rosner said. The political science major was intrigued. "I'll probably go more, now that I know they're political."
Sophomore Warren Elgort was looking forward to seeing which band from Hopkins would be playing at the concert. During his attendance at last year's concert, Elgort was disappointed by the outdoor set up.
"You can't hear everything that's going on," he said. "It wasn't conducive to having a good time. It was a real let down. I hope that whoever opens does a good job."
Freshman Nicky DePaul was puzzled by the committee's choice. He said he was hoping for a band that would be more interesting for listeners.
"It's not that I don't like State Radio. It's just that I really wished they had pushed the boundaries a little bit more," DePaul said.
"Last year, they had the Roots, and that's a really influential band at this point. State Radio caters to a pretty small audience, albeit a college audience, an East Coast college audience. I was really hoping they'd try to broaden people's musical understanding this year, and they didn't."
However, DePaul added, "I'm going to go. If it's good weather I'll be out there."
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