SpringFest: a step up from weekends past
Less like a standalone concert, more like CPW
The recent announcement of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis as the headliners for this year’s SpringFest spread like wildfire across the MIT campus. In addition to the concert, the Undergraduate Association (UA) Events Committee is working to make SpringFest, previously known as Spring Weekend, bigger and better than ever before.
Events Committee co-chairs Lindsey C. Osimiri ’14 and Daniela M. Yuschenkoff ’14 have grand plans for the weekend. They are partnering with student groups who have been a part of Spring Weekend in the past — such as SaveTFP, the International Student Association, and GaMIT — to host various events. The idea is to make SpringFest into a Campus Preview Weekend-style event, but for current MIT students. In order to accommodate these changes, the budget has increased from under $133,000 to about $150,000.
“This year we are going for quality over quantity, because it’s our first time for this push on making this an entire weekend experience,” said Osimiri. They anticipate having around ten big events in addition to the concert, and if they are successful, the Events Committee may reach out to even more student groups in the future.
The reasoning behind these changes is simple: making students happy.
“The response to Spring Weekend has not always been super positive, and this is something on the committee that we really wanted to change,” Yuschenkoff said. Booking a more recently popular artist was their first step in their efforts to make the weekend more desirable and exciting.
The UA Events Committee paid $50,000 for Macklemore & Ryan Lewis to headline the SpringFest 2013 Concert. “MIT is in a very competitive environment and location when it comes to booking entertainment and with Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ huge rise and amazing success these past few months, we are very proud and excited to bring this duo to MIT in April,” Yuschenkoff wrote in an email to The Tech. She and Osimiri confirmed that the opening act is being finalized and will be announced soon.
Pre-sale tickets opened to MIT students on March 1 and cost $15 each. On March 8, the pre-sale period ends, and tickets will be $20 for MIT students and $25 for non-MIT students.
There is also an incentive for MIT students to invite friends from other schools to attend. All non-MIT students will be asked if they received a referral from an MIT student. Any MIT student who refers five or more non-MIT friends to purchase tickets for the concert will be entered in a raffle for free Macklemore “swag.” The person with the most referrals will be offered “a unique and awesome concert experience,” wrote Yuschenkoff in an email to The Tech.
“Macklemore has been doing very well and selling lots and lots of tickets, so buy them fast!” said Yuschenkoff. Many schools hosting Macklemore & Ryan Lewis have sold over 4,000 tickets in their first week of sales.
“Not everyone on campus is going to like an artist, but if we get more groups involved in the weekend, everyone can say they had fun during SpringFest,” Osimiri said. “On a nice spring day, you see people on Kresge playing sports and studying outside, and when you add a concert and a carnival, MIT students are happy and have a great time!”
Tickets can be reserved at http://mit.universitytickets.com/user_pages/event.aspx?id=251&cid=36&p=1.
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Last year’s total SpringFest budget |
$132,992 |
|
The All-American Rejects |
$100,500 |
|
A Rocket To The Moon |
$1,000 |
|
This year’s estimated SpringFest budget |
$149, 500 |
|
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis |
$50,000 |
|
Opening Artist |
< $50,000 |