Spring Break
The Daily OrangeUU Concerts looks for acts
By Alex Roberts
Posted: 2/11/05, 12:03 AM EST Section: News
When the Grammy Awards air on CBS Sunday night, there will be an astonishing presence of music artists who have performed at universities in Central New York in the past three years. Among them are Gwen Stefani, Green Day and Kanye West, who together have 19 Grammy nominations and three separate performances.
The three artists mentioned above, along with 50 Cent, Brand New, Incubus, Mos Def, Dashboard Confessional, Nas, the Roots, Counting Crows and Stone Temple Pilots have all appeared at either Binghamton University or Cornell University in the past three years.
At SU, the budget for University Union concerts is not set yearly, like Cornell and Binghamton, but rather each semester. Sherlen Archibald, co-chair of UU Concerts, said this hinders their ability to place a bid for an artist.
"The other schools are six months ahead of us," he said. "We only have a month or 2 months (to plan). They have more time and more money."
"UU is not a recognized operating organization on campus," said Andrew Urankar, comptroller. "These organizations are those that need money to keep their lights on."
While organizations like Z89 and WAER have this status and receive their funding in August of each school year, Archibald said UU Concerts needs to gain status as an operating organization to compete with schools like Binghamton University and Cornell for top name artists.
"If you go to the main offices in the Carrier Dome, there are pictures of all the past concerts that were here. It's ridiculous that it has come to this," said Rich Pedine, former executive director of University Union Concerts. "The student activity fee is not a good formula for a school of this caliber to put on a big show. It's sad we don't take advantage of (our prestige). This school revolves around popular culture because of all the programs we have. If we were able to bring big shows here, it would serve as a valid educational experience."
While Cornell is comparative to SU in both number of students and tuition (Cornell: 13,577 students, $40,000 tuition, SU: 10,840 students, $36,694 tuition), BU is a state school and, though they have a comparative number of students (10,428), their tuition is only $13,459.
The three artists mentioned above, along with 50 Cent, Brand New, Incubus, Mos Def, Dashboard Confessional, Nas, the Roots, Counting Crows and Stone Temple Pilots have all appeared at either Binghamton University or Cornell University in the past three years.
At SU, the budget for University Union concerts is not set yearly, like Cornell and Binghamton, but rather each semester. Sherlen Archibald, co-chair of UU Concerts, said this hinders their ability to place a bid for an artist.
"The other schools are six months ahead of us," he said. "We only have a month or 2 months (to plan). They have more time and more money."
"UU is not a recognized operating organization on campus," said Andrew Urankar, comptroller. "These organizations are those that need money to keep their lights on."
While organizations like Z89 and WAER have this status and receive their funding in August of each school year, Archibald said UU Concerts needs to gain status as an operating organization to compete with schools like Binghamton University and Cornell for top name artists.
"If you go to the main offices in the Carrier Dome, there are pictures of all the past concerts that were here. It's ridiculous that it has come to this," said Rich Pedine, former executive director of University Union Concerts. "The student activity fee is not a good formula for a school of this caliber to put on a big show. It's sad we don't take advantage of (our prestige). This school revolves around popular culture because of all the programs we have. If we were able to bring big shows here, it would serve as a valid educational experience."
While Cornell is comparative to SU in both number of students and tuition (Cornell: 13,577 students, $40,000 tuition, SU: 10,840 students, $36,694 tuition), BU is a state school and, though they have a comparative number of students (10,428), their tuition is only $13,459.
