Sara Caplan

On March 19, during a virtual ‘town hall’ about the coronavirus (COVID-19) and its impact on the College, President Clayton Rose confirmed the cancellation of this year’s Ivies weekend. The news saddened members of the Bowdoin community, including those on the Entertainment Board (eBoard) who plan the annual spring concert.

“Although I was certain that a move to virtual classes meant that Ivies was cancelled, it wasn’t until I watched the live [town hall] that it actually hit me,” wrote eBoard Co-Chair Joshua Brooks ’20 in an email to the Orient. “It was heartbreaking, knowing that you would not be able to see something that you had worked very hard towards come to fruition.”

The eBoard was responsible for organizing all aspects of the Ivies concerts, including reaching out to and hiring the entertainment. On Tuesday, eBoard announced on its Instagram that this year’s headlining act was KYLE. The rapper and musician is most famous for his collaboration with rapper Lil Yachty on “I Spy,” which peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart in 2017.

“I really like KYLE as an artist because he knows how to have fun with music,” said eBoard member Mamadou Diaw ’20 in a phone interview with the Orient. “He presents himself in a very unique way that I really appreciate.”

“He has great energy and great songs,” eBoard co-chair Sabrina Hunte ’20 added in an email to the Orient. “Thinking about him not performing for us is making me sad.”

While the eBoard devoted a significant amount of time to hiring the headliner, Brooks was excited for the chance to create an enjoyable weekend beyond KYLE’s performance. In the fall semester, Brooks attended a conference geared towards students in organizations similar to Bowdoin’s eBoard. The conference, Brooks wrote, gave useful information on how to plan and execute campus-wide concerts.

“I was looking forward to being able to implement some of those things into our show and the week leading up to it,” wrote Brooks.

Other senior board members, such as Diaw, are disappointed to miss their last Ivies.

“I think it would have been a phenomenal, really fun capstone to four years at Bowdoin,” Diaw wrote.

Though the concert weekend is cancelled, eBoard hopes to connect with the Bowdoin community through its Instagram account, @bowdoin_eboard. The group still plans to hold the annual contest for an Ivies t-shirt design and will accept applications for next year’s eBoard.

“The eBoard will continue to make progress on our normal end-of-year processes,” Brooks wrote. “And [with] regards to Ivies 2021, I can finally say that I have absolutely no idea who’s coming!”