Collegiate Times

When a college is in the middle of nowhere, entertaining the student body can be a difficult task.

The most important deciding factor when it comes to determining the entertainment life at a university boils down to one thing: location.

Probably the most entertaining of Virginia schools is George Mason University. On the cusp of the metropolitan Washington D.C. area, there is a huge market for entertainment all over the university.    

Home to the Patriot Center, an arena GMU uses for basketball games and concerts, finding entertainment is easy compared to other campuses. Artists come to the Patriot Center to book shows; George Mason doesn’t necessarily have come to them.

“One thing that I would say that differentiates us from the other (Virginia) universities is that we are in a major media market,” said Barry Geisler, general manager of the Patriot Center. “We are in a top seven or eight populations market. Most bands play 30 or 40 dates, and they pick the big markets. Also, this goes with George Mason’s philosophy of using the arena for other things besides basketball.”

Since Mason is dealing with such a huge market, the arena uses the services of promoters and booking agents to bring talent in.

“The (artists’) managers have a booking agent,” Geisler said. “They make money through touring, not through recording music. An agent will say they are looking to plan a tour and go to promoters in the area. We are aware these artists are going to go on tour because they have an album coming out so we will call agents and ask them to keep us in mind.”

The cost of renting out the Patriot Center for the night is roughly $50,000, Geisler said.
The situation is different for the other major Virginia schools.

Like Virginia Tech, James Madison University uses a student committee, the University Programs Board to help bring shows into the area and provides for most of the college entertainment.

“UPB has multiple committees under (one) umbrella,” said Chris Beach, director of center stage for UPB. “The process that we go through is talk to the university about venues and days that are available, and we take the listings to a middle agent called More Music Agency and ask for a list of talent that they represent and can fit in.”
The UPB is allotted roughly $200,000 a year for bringing talent to the college. Half of that goes solely to the center stage committee, which hosts music and comedians. UPB matched dates up with whatever they can afford, Beach said.

The last show that UPB hosted was bands Copeland and Guster, where the committee actually lost money because only 1,200 tickets were sold. To break even with their budget, UPB normally must sell 2,500 tickets. When band O.A.R. came to the university, UPB sold 3,200 tickets. Bands or comedians that are available usually fluctuate each semester.

“I personally think it was a bad season because of what was available,” Beach said.
Concerning the music scene in Harrisonburg, Beach thinks that other schools have it better off.

“Just viewing the schedules for other universities like (Virginia Commonwealth University) and Mason, they seem able to be successful with a wider range of genres, whether it be alternative or hip hop,” he said. “It’s like we have to play it safe, because I don’t think our campus is responsive to new music. Copeland/Guster was kind of like a grassroots effort. We went around and ask students if they would be interested and most said ‘no.’ I think JMU is comfortable with top 40 artists. When we try to book something that’s different, it’s always a risk.”

Hannah Holsinger, senior Virginia Tech student and resident of Harrisonburg thinks that the entertainment scene here is not as good as JMU’s.

“(JMU) has more house shows and venues than bars,” said Holsinger. “But Blacksburg is working on it. Tech has been gaining a few local houses to have local shows at.”
The University of Virginia boasts a larger entertainment market than JMU or Virginia Tech. Not only does the school have a student committee, known as the University Programs Council, but it also has many new venues that are new to Charlottesville.

“The music (and) entertainment scene in Charlottesville is very saturated,” said Brian Gavron, UPC chair and UVa student. “Within the past few years, many venues have opened, including the Pavilion and our newest being the John Paul Jones Arena. Students in Charlottesville are very fortunate because of the amount of music and entertainment. Because of this, I think students at UVa have more opportunity than at other universities.”

The UPC is similar to VTU and UPB.

“Each committee meets on a weekly basis to review possible programs and to discuss each,” Gavron said. “After conducting research, if the committee thinks that students want the program, they put together an event proposal and present it to the Governing Board. The Governing Board then approves the program.”

The UPC has budget restrictions as well.
“As far as budgeting goes, UPC is fairly fiscally conservative and when looking at the bottom line for each program budget,” Gavron said. “We look at the cost per person and try not to exceed a cost per person that is higher than what each individual UVa student pays.

Sometimes the budget concerns impact which artists the UPC brings to Charlottesville.
“UPC receives a student activities fee of $14 for each student,” Gavron said. “The budget from year-to-year remains relatively constant, so it is not a yearly change that determines whether or not we pursue certain artists. It does play a role when we are speaking about larger events and the risk we assume if we are putting a large percentage of the budget into a single program.”

Much interest for bands to come to Virginia Tech to play has been a result of the diverse student population.

“I think the only reason why bands would come here to play would be because we have kids who come from all over the nation,” said Albert Bjork, junior political science major and concert-goer. “There is a huge audience for bands to come down and promote themselves, especially if they are not big and are looking to become successful. The college audience, in my opinion, is the best way to get yourself out there.”

The Lyric Theatre is yet another venue popular for holding local shows. According to Rob Baker, business coordinator at the Lyric, bands and shows are coordinated for the theatre by promoter Dylan Locke Productions, who work on bringing bands to the Lyric.
For the most part, bands normally contact the Lyric to play a show. Many of them come from all over the nation. Just last week, the Lyric hosted Marcia Ball, a recording artist from Texas.

However, the Lyric is looking into finding more local talent to rent out the venue to play.
“We’re trying to get it coordinated where we will have someone go out and look for local bands to come play,” said Baker.

Student access is predictably bound by location.

“It’s easier for bands to go to Charlottesville or Harrisonburg because they have more of a population and audience for bringing bands,” said Bjork. “Blacksburg is just so far away that it’s an issue for them to spend the gas money and not even have enough of an audience.”

WUVT, Blacksburg’s independent student-run radio station, tries to promote local music as much as possible.

Ramage Mendez, WUVT radio DJ, said the station has a spot called “the local zone” where they will play music from bands around the area. Every once and a while, there is also a radio show called “Blacksburg’s Own.”
Mendez hosts a show that is dedicated to promoting alternative music, much like the alternative sounds committee. He, like the others, believes that there is still room for improvement on the local music scene.

“As far as going to see Blacksburg bands, the scene is pretty decent, but not thriving,” he said.

To help universities with low media markets attract talent, Geisler believes that these student programs must be as professional as possible.

“A school like (Virginia Tech), which wouldn’t have full service promoters, would need to use their (student program board) to its full service to bring people there,” Geisler said. “One needs to look at it from the perspective from the entertainment community. The booking agent doesn’t want any trouble. All the talent wants is for everything to be taken care of from the catering to the show.

 The last thing (an agent wants) is to get a complaint. They try to remove risk from touring schedule by dealing with professionals. It’s important that a [student] program board does a good job and has a track record so that when an agent places as an act, they don’t have to worry about it. That’s the bottom line.”