As most students settle back into college life and get used to their new classes for the fall semester, the Student Organization for the Multiple Arts (SOMA) has been keeping busy by working to contribute to the local arts community.
The organization's hard work has been most evident this semester, having brought indie outfit The Good Life to the HUB-Robeson Center Heritage Hall for free last night.
Danny Greene (senior-information sciences and technology) said the booking process relies on a number of factors and getting an act like The Good Life to be free of charge to students was an involved process.
"The three things you need to take care of booking a show are money, availability of the artist and availability of the venue," Greene said.
He said the organization compiled a list of bands they were interested in bringing to Penn State and then submitted a budget of how much they expected the show to cost to the University Park Allocation Committee (UPAC) in July.
In addition to the budget, SOMA needed 20 percent of the amount they were requesting or needed to show UPAC they could raise the money by the time of the show, Greene said.
After they submitted everything, the organization waited 40 business days to find out if it was approved.
In August, SOMA's budget was approved and planned to book Norwegian pop act Sondre Lerche, Greene said.
However, because of a miscommunication and some financial problems, the act backed out of the show, and SOMA started looking for another band to fill the venue and fit its budget. The Good Life fit that bill.
"It worked out with them at the perfect time and the perfect amount of money," Greene said, although they still were unable to cover the entire cost of the show.
The Lion 90.7 covered the last 20 percent, allowing the small show to happen.
Greene sees this show and other events SOMA organizes as a nice alternative to some of the larger events that the Student Programming Association (SPA) attracts.
"As SPA tries to more and more bring bigger acts, SOMA will try harder and harder to bring the more niche acts that you can't get anywhere else," Greene said.
SPA's funding comes from the student activity fee that is included in student tuition. This allots them a much larger budget and the ability to work with larger venues. SPA is recently responsible for the Guster concert tonight at the Bryce Jordan Center, said Raj Desai (senior-sciences), executive director of SPA.
"The BJC is a stepping stone for use to utilize another venue on campus," Desai said. "We want to build a relationship with them to use in the future."
In addition to bringing large acts to the BJC, SPA also is responsible for a variety of other performances and activities for the student body. It started the NoonTime Concert Series that is held in the HUB-Robeson Center on Fridays and it also contributes to the Distinguished Speaker Series.
Because their resources, larger shows are not an option for SOMA, but they continue to try and fight for local music, Greene said. In addition to The Good Life show, students can also look forward to two other events organized by SOMA that will feature student artwork and local bands late this semester and during the spring.
Arts Crawl
The Arts Crawl, which happened for the first time last spring, will be held sometime next semester. Lara Slotnick, (senior-art history) president of the Visual Arts Student Alliance (VASA), is organizing the event with SOMA this year.
The Arts Crawl, which Slotnick hopes will turn into a yearly event, is an integration of all the various arts. It features all the concentrations of art practiced by students and features their artwork. In addition to student art, there are art demonstrations and live music by local bands. VASA's contribution to the event focuses on the artwork, organizing the studios, artwork, demonstrations and food. SOMA focuses on the music.
Slotnick hopes the administration sees what a success the Arts Crawl was last year and continues to support the completely student-organized event. "It was a really grassroots effort last year with everyone pitching in," she said.
Synthesis Film Festival
Two years ago SOMA and the Student Film Organization (SFO) organized the event -- gathering student filmmakers and local musicians -- for the first time; however, it was not put on last year.
"The idea is that student filmmakers will conceptualize, direct, produce and edit music videos for local bands. Then at the festival, we'll have the bands performing as their videos are projected onto a large screen behind them," said Alyssa Fannick, (junior-film and video) vice president of SFO.
The date for the festival is uncertain at this point, though, Greene added that it would take place either at the end of this semester or sometime during the spring.
