Kyra Tan

Ivies is a Bowdoin tradition that dates back to 1865. Over time, the tradition has changed, but one thing that has remained part of Ivies for the last 156 years is the concert. Last year’s Ivies celebration featured several changes, with the primary alteration being made to the concert. The concert was moved to an earlier weekend and detached from the Ivies weekend.

While the change to the concert was not student-led, it did have merit. April is a busy month in the concert-planning world. The last weekend of April, when the spring concert was traditionally held, is one of the most popular weekends for colleges to hold concerts. The demand for artists that weekend is incredibly high, leading to increased prices and lower artist availability. Although the concert is now earlier in the month, early planning and booking are crucial to bringing an exciting concert to campus.

Like last year, this year’s spring concert will be held the second weekend of April. This year’s spring concert will also have a new change; it will be planned by the Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) and not the Entertainment Board (E-Board) as in past years.

Clubs that spend large amounts of money, such as BSG and the E-Board, are required to submit an operating budget at the end of each school year to the Student Activities Funding Committee (SAFC). At the end of last year, a budget was not submitted by the E-Board. This year, the E-Board has been provided with numerous extensions and opportunities to submit a budget, and it has failed to do so. Because no budget was submitted, money that would have been allocated to the E-Board remained part of the general pot of money available to all student clubs through the SAFC.

Last week, the BSG executive team was informed that the spring concert had $0 of funding. The E-Board had not yet requested money from the SAFC or met with the Student Activities Office to begin planning the concert. We were concerned. Given that it was almost February and our options for both a performer and the SAFC’s pool of money were dwindling, the BSG executive team decided to request money from the SAFC to put on the spring concert. The SAFC awarded us the money.

The E-Board was given several opportunities to obtain funding and never did. The longer we waited for the E-Board to request the money, the less likely it was that we would be able to secure a performer that students would enjoy. Additionally, the longer we waited, the less money there would be available in the SAFC’s pool of money for us to be able to request for the concert. As elected representatives, we had to step in to ensure that the spring concert could still go on.

This means that BSG is now responsible for planning this year’s spring concert. Last semester, we planned a winter concert, and we are excited to announce that it will be happening on February 25. The winter concert will be headlined by Maude Latour and Social House. We are confident that the spring concert we plan will be fun and memorable.

Susu Gharib is a member of the class of 2023 and Bowdoin’s student body president.