Behind the scenes of the spring concert with CPB

By SARAH BOND

Staff Writer

On Mar. 16, it was announced on social media that artist T-Pain would be headlining the Spring Concert this year, with We The Kings as the opener. This year the announcement came in the form of a video which featured UMW President Troy Paino, whom also shares the nickname T-Pain, being told “it’s time” and rushing to the stage as the performer in a humorous play on names.

As many alumni and upperclassmen know, concerts at UMW have changed tremendously throughout the years. I spoke with Jasmine Pineda, Productions Chair of Campus Programming Board (CPB), the student organization which plans the Spring Concert, to understand what really goes down when planning the Spring Concert.

When does CPB begin deliberating who is chosen for the Spring Concert?
We are constantly working for the next year. We are already brainstorming names. We keep an eye out for names on top charts, within our budget, as well as keeping an eye on names that are talked about on campus.

This year students received two different surveys; what was the reason for the updated survey?

The first survey was kind of like a census. The student population changes every year, and we want to offer as much variety as possible to the students. Sometimes the genre ‘climate’ changes and after we sent out the first survey we picked the best names from some of the categories and wanted to see if pitting those names against one another would change the preference of the students.

What were the results of the survey? What genre is most popular amongst students?

We received over 1,600 survey submissions. Last year we only received 600 so we were so excited to see the student involvement with this event. Some of our highly voted genres were Alternative Pop, Rap and Pop.

How long does it usually take to contact/schedule an artist?

A couple of months. We have a back and forth process with negotiations and contract conversations.

T-Pain and We The Kings are two very different artists versus Waka Flocka and DRAM last year who were more similar. Is there a reason they are so different?

We wanted to encompass more of the student population, by appealing to a larger demographic and by looking at the results of our surveys, we know this will be a successful pairing.

The announcement video was very popular amongst students. What was it like getting President Paino to participate?

It was glorious. I was extremely excited to work alongside him, and Fishtank Media who filmed and edited the video, were amazing to collaborate with. It was filmed in an hour due to the President’s busy schedule, but we got everything done in time. We were extremely excited to see the final product and even more ecstatic to see the positive response.

What is the hardest part of planning the Spring Concert? What is the most enjoyable?

The hardest part of planning the Spring Concert is the Spring Concert. There are a lot of components to the event that we need to coordinate. Making sure everything comes together correctly and that we have enough manpower to ensure success can be difficult. The best part is seeing how much the students enjoy it, and all the happy smiles.

How can students get involved with CPB or planning the Spring Concert in the future?

CPB has many different ways for students to get involved. We show movies every weekend for $1 so students can help show the movies and get in for free. We have different committees that handle different events from the movies to small concerts on the weekend to trips to the Superbowl to so much more. We are always looking for new members so they can attend our general monthly meetings. Our next one is Apr. 2 at 7 p.m. in the Capital Room which is located in the University Center.

The Spring Concert is April 12th, 2018 in the Anderson Center. Tickets are available in the University Center or online.