In recent years, concerts on campus have faced student criticism for a variety of reasons. Some UPAC-sponsored events have been poorly attended, and students seem to be aching for an administration that listens to what they want.
There is one new organization on campus, however, that is striving to make a difference -- and for once, it's the students that are taking charge.
Although it has only been around since last September, the Student Programming Association (SPA) has been playing a major role in the entertainment that comes to campus.
SPA, Penn State's federal programming board, was formed last year when Vicky Triponey, former vice president of Student Affairs, noticed that while other large universities had programming organizations, Penn State did not.
Raj Desai (senior-sciences), executive director of SPA, said that in his opinion, the organization did not become official in the students' eyes until last spring when it brought comedian Charlie Murphy to the HUB-Robeson Center.
In addition to bringing acts like Murphy to Penn State, SPA works with the Distinguished Speaker Series and Noontime Concert Series. Desai said that while these organizations were already in place, SPA has been able to help them with marketing and student input.
"We've done everything from concerts to comedians to free movies on the HUB lawn," said Garrett Bogden (junior-marketing), SPA's Entertainment Committee chairperson. "We've also just developed a relationship with the BJC and the State Theatre."
SPA is currently collaborating with the Bryce Jordan Center on the Akon/Rihanna concert and Sarah Silverman comedy show. "SPA wanted to utilize the BJC as a venue, and the BJC wanted to fill seats," Desai said concerning SPA's relationship with the BJC. Desai also added that without SPA's help, tickets for the Sarah Silverman show would have been at least $30.
"This is our proving ground, with the Akon and Rihanna concert and Sarah Silverman. We need to do a good job, so then SPA can bring the acts it wants to the BJC," Desai said. He added that SPA program adviser Darcy Rameker facilitated this collaboration.
Rameker said her role with the organization is to act as a liaison between SPA and the administration.
"I look at what policies and procedures pertain to what SPA is doing, and I let the administration know what SPA is up to," Rameker said. Rameker also helps the organization with the logistics of the programming process, advising the student members of SPA, she added.
Bogden said that in addition to its collaboration with the BJC, SPA has also been working with the State Theatre, 130 W. College Ave., on planning several events for this fall. Some of these events include the Halloween film series, which will present seasonal horror films the week before Halloween with discounted student tickets; the Little Shop of Horrors production, a musical spoof of 1950s sci-fi flicks, which runs on Oct. 18 and 20; and a concert featuring the indie musical group, Illinois, on Dec. 1.
The entire organization usually becomes involved in choosing what programming comes to the campus, Bogden said. He explained that usually someone on the administrative council will have information on an artist's availability and will give it to the Entertainment Committee to take it to the next level. While these 10 to 15 students in the Entertainment Committee are mostly responsible for choosing the programming SPA brings to Penn State, students outside of SPA can also bring ideas to the table.
"Students can definitely e-mail or talk with us about ideas," Bogden said. "Last year, some random student wanted to bring in Adam Pascal from Rent. The student knew he was available and thought it would be really cool if he came to the campus. We actually made it happen."
Bogden said this is how the organization reaches out to students who want to help choose Penn State programming but can't commit a great deal of time to the organization itself.
"We also have an Outreach Committee that works with other student clubs to put on events," Bogden said. "And we do a lot of peer advising for the events that other clubs or groups put on."
The events that other groups put on tend to be of a completely different stature, however. Therein lies one of the major aspects that make SPA different from other student organizations -- their budget. SPA does not go through the University Park Allocation Committee (UPAC) to receive allocations, and therefore, it can afford to put on numerous events of a larger degree.
Instead of petitioning to receive money from UPAC like other student groups do, SPA gets funding from a portion of the student activity fee that students pay in addition to tuition. The amount of money SPA receives is decided every March when the group petitions before the Funding Allocations Board (FAB). The group provides a detailed budget to FAB that includes how it has spent its money in the previous year, and how it wants to spend it in the upcoming year.
"It's all up to our discretion on how we want to spend it," Bogden said.
Bogden said one of the amazing things about SPA is how quickly it's turned into a functional and working organization.
"Penn State was one of the only schools that didn't have a federal programming board for a really long time," Bogden said. "It usually takes four or five years for something like this to be set in stone and completely operational. The fact that we've come this far in a year and a half is amazing."
