This year鈥檚 Spring Weekend will be a one-day festival as a result of rising production costs and University-wide student group budget cuts, according to a Wednesday from Brown Concert Agency. In keeping with recent Spring Weekends, entry to the festival will remain free for all undergraduate students.
Previously, Spring Weekend has taken place across two days, with three unique artists performing each day.
This year鈥檚 funding for BCA, allocated at $300,000 excluding supplemental funding, marks a $256,665 reduction from the 2022-23 academic year 鈥� which totaled $556,665. This year鈥檚 funding is roughly equivalent to funding for BCA prior to the pandemic in 2019 and 2018, shows.
鈥淭his is by far the largest budget for any student organization, and BCA acknowledges the enormity of it,鈥� BCA wrote in a statement sent to The Herald.
BCA was just one of the student groups affected by budget cuts made by the UFB, which faced over a $1.5 million gap between revenue and funding requested by student groups for this academic year, The Herald previously reported. In allocating limited funds, UFB has worked to ensure events that have occurred historically can still happen.
鈥淚 think that it's unfortunate that we can no longer have this awesome concert that can no longer span over two days because of these funding issues,鈥� Nora Landry 鈥�26 said.
According to BCA鈥檚 statement, before the COVID-19 pandemic, attending both days of Spring Weekend used to cost $50, which accounted for 鈥渞oughly 40% of an annual (Spring Weekend) budget鈥� for the next academic year.
After Spring Weekend was made a free event in 2021 鈥� a decision 鈥減roposed by鈥� the Undergraduate Finance Board and the Student Activities Office 鈥� lost ticket revenue was supplemented by UFB鈥檚 鈥渂udget surplus鈥� for the past two years, with the group being 鈥渦nder the impression that things would continue this way鈥� until they were notified otherwise after last year鈥檚 Spring Weekend, according to the statement.
Coming into the previous academic year, UFB had about $3.2 million to spend 鈥� including a $1.2 million surplus 鈥� and planned to spend nearly the entirety of the funds in their account, The Herald previously reported. While it intended to have a $150,000 surplus into this school year, spending exceeded projections, leaving them with almost no surplus this year.
鈥淣ow that the surplus has run out, we鈥檙e in a position where we have no ticket revenue from previous years, effectively leaving us with 40% less funds for the foreseeable future,鈥� the BCA statement wrote.
鈥淚t鈥檚 an example of the larger impact of the mismanagement of UFB funds,鈥� Mia-Nathalie Pridgen 鈥�26.
鈥淚鈥檓 disappointed because I think that it鈥檚 an event that a lot of students look forward to,鈥� said Bryanna Pajotte 鈥�24. 鈥淚t鈥檚 disheartening.鈥�
The cut in funding is accompanied by rising production costs.
According to the statement, BCA has historically dedicated 鈥渞oughly 60%鈥� of total budget to artists and 40% to production costs 鈥� but that number has changed due to 鈥渋nflation as well as the advent of new costs like (Event Operations),鈥� which had 鈥減reviously been covered by Brown for all student groups.鈥�
On Sept. 11, UFB announced that back-end support for events not strictly related to safety 鈥� such as Event Operations 鈥� will be limited due to their budgetary constraints, The Herald previously reported.
This year, 60% of BCA鈥檚 budget will go to a single day鈥檚 production costs, reducing the group鈥檚 artist budget. That budget 鈥渨ould have been reduced by more had we decided to maintain the 2-day model,鈥� the statement shared. 鈥淔urthermore, inflation has increased the price that artists charge and the percentage of their fee that agents demand, leaving BCA with even less buying power.鈥�
鈥淒espite the change to a one-day festival, we鈥檙e really excited to explore new possibilities for Spring Weekend in the coming years, and hoping to get in dialogue with the student body over what the event should look like,鈥� BCA wrote in their statement.
Kathy Wang is the senior editor of community of The Brown Daily Herald's 134th Editorial Board. She previously covered student government and international student life as a University News editor. When she's not at The Herald, you can find her watching cooking videos or writing creative nonfiction.
Rya is an arts & culture section editor from Albany, NY. She is a junior studying English and Literary Arts, and her favorite TV show is Breaking Bad.
