Recent criticisms of Programming Board in The Dartmouth have ranged from ill-founded to inaccurate. The Green Key concert was the culmination of a long year of planning and hard work by a few dedicated students and staff committed to strengthening Programming Board's events. Admittedly, its record has been less than stellar, but changes in the last year have put the organization on track to provide great programs to the students.
Upperclassmen probably remember the debacle that was the Avicii concert last winter. The choice of venue, though forced, was less than ideal. The ticket interface was horrible, the side concert space sucked, the bag check was atrocious. I was there trust me, I could go on.
The Avicii show was the decision of last year's head of Programming Board and concert chair a '12 and an '11. To prevent a debacle like the winter concert from happening again and to improve events, the incoming executives undertook numerous strategies targeted at more than just improving the organization's image. They sought external review to strengthen events, created numerous discussions to find out where programming was failing and blitzed out a campus survey to learn what students wanted from Programming Board.
In the end, the overwhelming majority of students noted that they wanted a large concert with a big name artist. About five months ago, a lot of work went into securing a large concert for Green Key one that would vastly improve prior shortcomings. A campus survey was blitzed out to get a feel on what artists and genres the student body wanted. The majority of responses expressed a desire for a hip hop or rap concert, with pop and electronic music in second and third.
In light of the responses, a decision was made to pursue two artists, one rap and one electronic, to provide a variety of entertainment. ASAP Rocky and Major Lazer were originally to appear before Major Lazer backed out of his second signed contract. However, the concert was the culmination of hard work and student input. Estimated attendance of 3,800 students is by far the strongest showing at a Programming Board event in recent memory.
Claims that Programming Board is not transparent are simply incorrect. It is true that the current director, Alex Martin '13, made the decision to utilize the campus listserv less due to the belief that it is a far-from-perfect communication medium. Many students unsubscribe from the list server or quickly delete the emails. Programming Board does still use email from time to time, like when they blitzed out that the Green Key concert lineup would be announced at the Caribbean Carnival. Furthermore, the charge that Programming Board does not utilize social media to publicize events is just not true. One look at Programming Board's Facebook page shows many advertised events.
Yes, Shaggy did update his Facebook to reflect his coming to Dartmouth before Programming Board made the announcement. However, when Shaggy publicized his concert, there was no signed contract between Dartmouth and Shaggy, only communication with his agent. Seeing as Major Lazer canceled his second show with a signed contract only minutes after the announcement was made, Programming Board did not want to announce another artist without signed paperwork.
Finally, it is true that Programming Board does not currently subsidize student tickets at the Nugget. However, it is in the process of negotiating a new contract with the Nugget. In the past, the Nugget billed Programming Board at the end of each month for the number of student tickets sold. In December, the Nugget charged for thousands of dollars of student tickets even though most students were gone on Christmas break. This repeatedly happened in between terms, so Programming Board pulled funding until better arrangements could be made. After going over budget last year, Programming Board ended Green Key with money to increase programming efficacy for years to come, and there are no plans to increase current budgeting.
Where did I learn all of this information? From attending the open Programming Board meetings, where artists and finances have been discussed. Refusing to speak with news reporters does not constitute a lack of transparency. Programming Board is far from perfect, but in one short year, they have come a long way.
