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ASMSU approves $100,000 for February concert, considers a country act

October 27, 2014

Country will likely be the genre of the next concert for MSU students at Breslin Center, as ASMSU approved Thursday the allocation $100,000 towards a concert early next year.

While nothing is yet set in stone, the bill to allocate up to $100,000 from special projects passed at the general assembly meeting with 25 voting yes, five voting no and one abstention after almost an hour of debate and discussion.

More details emerged about the concert ASMSU plans to organize at the general assembly meeting.

ASMSU decided, with outside help, that country would be the most likely to sell enough tickets to make a profit. For example, an R&B performer would most likely leave 40 percent of the tickets unsold, Vice President for Finance and Operations Greg Jackson said.

“We’re fairly certain that a country concert would sell the best, based off professional advice,” ASMSU President James Conwell said.

ASMSU officials said they consulted Pure Promotions, a Lansing-based sales, entertainment and marketing firm.

Many who had reservations with the bill took issue with both the genre and the lack of knowledge presented at the assembly. Dolores Sinistaj of James Madison College expressed that she was hesitant to vote to allocate that much money without knowing who the performer was. Another point brought up was that the special projects fund, consisting of $131,000, will be limited for the time being.

The bill does not guarantee the money will be spent. The bill merely allocates funds, so if something were to fall through no money would be spent.

However, no artist could be approached with offers before the money was actually allocated by ASMSU. For this reason, many of the specific details of the concert are yet to be announced as ASMSU could not get most of the work started until Thursday when the bill passed. First estimates put the number of tickets that will be offered at 6,000.

Social relations and policy major Wyatt Ludman, who sits on the steering committee, said that this would be a good move for ASMSU because it would be the best balance of student satisfaction while also being able to balance ASMSU’s ability to replenish its funds.

One important fact of the concert is that no money will be removed from ASMSU’s funds until the day of the concert, and all profits generated will also return to ASMSU’s accounts the day of the concert.

ASMSU is taking into account that it is being treated as an investment and not just an event.

Vice President for academic affairs Teresa Bitner said that the planning for the concert is going to need trust from ASMSU members and that they are going to need to take risks in order to be successful.

“I think this is going to be a good thing to take a risk for,” she said.

More details on the specifics of the concert will come in a few weeks, with the actual performer being announced in two or three weeks at the earliest, Chief of Staff Kiran Samra said.

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