Students anticipating an Activities Council Bradley University (ACBU) concert this semester will have to hold out for the spring.
Director of Student Activities Tom Coy said ACBU reached out to several artists to perform this fall, but the most recent offer was struck down.
“We extended an offer but it was rejected,” he said. “As of now, there will not be a fall con- cert.”
Senior and Special Events Reserve Fund coordinator Jennifer Hoekstra, who works
with ACBU on the concert budget, confirmed that no artist will come this semester.
“At this time, we, as the SERF committee on ACBU, are not pur- suing a fall performer for Bradley,” she said.
Coy said ACBU was in commu- nications with various performers, but the organization could not pin one down for this semester. He said the artists either declined due to concert tour routes or wanting more money than Bradley was able to guarantee.
“The [ACBU] students must find an act that they feel our stu- dents would respond positively to, and then negotiate the appear- ance and fee with management,” Coy said.
SERF and ACBU committees are custodians of the SERF fees, so there’s a lot to consider when bringing in acts that cost more than $75,000, Coy said.
As of Wednesday night, Coy said the ACBU leadership had an offer pending, but it was soon declined.
“If [it was] approved, we [would] have a concert,” he said. “If denied, we [would] likely need to return to square one and work on a show for early spring.” Hoekstra said signing a contract with a big name artist was not easy to find for this semester.
“In planning a possible fall concert, the artists comparable to our most recent concert of The Band Perry were unavailable for fall semester,” she said.
Senior and SERF coordinator Matthew Olivero said the deci- sion to not have a fall concert was due mostly to artist availability. “Last year BAMF was funded from the SERF percentage of SABRC,” Olivero said. “With the amount of money left in that account, SERF made the decision that it would be to the benefit of Bradley’s campus to hold off and plan a larger concert in the spring.” Junior and SERF coordina- tor Dashawn Cason said the concert expectations of Bradley were not met. “We would be doing a disservice to campus if we presented an artist that we are not equitable, in regards to talent and notori- ety, to or more famous than, The Band Perry,” he said. “We have decided to take the fall semester to plan a spring concert to be as fiscally responsible as possible.”
Hoekstra said she could not disclose the names of the art- ists ACBU looked into for this semester.
Hoekstra said that in the meantime, ACBU is in the pro- cess of planning a concert for the spring.