Courtesy photo
Better get your ticket-ordering fingers ready.
A very limited amount of tickets for the Kid Cudi, Big Boi, and Chip Tha Ripper show at Barnhill Arena on Sunday, April 29 are expected to go on sale to the public at 9 a.m. this morning.
According to the Office of Student Activities website, tickets will be $31.50 for general admission, and $35.50 for floor seats if any are available.
Tickets will be sold through waltonartscenter.org, and you could also try calling the box office at 479-443-5600.
35 dollars?! HAHAHA
Yeah, if I didn’t know how big a budget the Headlining Concert Committee had (upwards of 200k for only two shows per year), $35 wouldn’t bother me since it is fairly standard for arena shows. I would be interested to find out where the profits go.
The concerts put on by the HCC have never turned a profit. The ticket prices help offset some of the costs. I think what shocks people is the true cost of putting on shows of this caliber. If HCC were to sell every ticket they had for this show at the above listed cost, the result would be breaking even or a slight profit. However, this is not what happens. HCC seeks the opportunity to give the most tickets possible to UofA Fatetteville students for free, since HCC is funded by a UofA Fayetteville student fee. Currently any extra revenue from shows are used to fund bigger shows the next semester. In this case of the spring show, any revenue left over will be transferred to the Program Allocations Board which distributes money to HCC, Distinguished Lectures, Associated Student Government, RSO’s, the Vollunteer Action Committee, And University Programs. The PAB consists of the student leaders of each of the groups mentioned previously. It is responsible for the allocations to each group and for any unforeseen programming costs that can occur throughout the year. The university has created a system that is truly students first here by allowing the students to decide how the fee money is spent.
Sounds like a government program. Why not reduce/eliminate the student fee? Then the students (or their parents) could choose to pay for whatever concert they want, or put the money to more productive use like student loan debt reduction.
There you go lets reduce some fees and spending and really make college a little more bland for those attending.
When the Headlining Concert fee was originally passed, it was .50 cents on every credit hour. So, unless it’s drastically increased, the individual student isn’t going to see much of a difference if it were eliminated.
Bailey,
Never turned a profit, huh? Maybe it would be a better idea if the HCC just held one concert a year or two smaller ones per year, but with all tickets going to students since they did pay for it.
When the HCC first started, I know that only 4,500 seats (about half Bud Walton’s capacity including the floor) were allocated to students. Has this changed?
I’m not really shocked that big shows held in campus buildings cost a lot of money. However, a per item cost breakdown of a single event might shock me. Only because I suspect there’s some fairly big waste areas (extra middlemen).
HCC’s mission is to provide a headliner concert each semester that allows as many students possible to attend. By bringing concerts to the campus, HCC believes it is providing a unique culturally experience to the students of the University of Arkansas. The distribution of tickets can be a complicated process bass on the contracts with individual artists. Sometime the cost of the artists is paid through ticket revenue with ticket price set by the artist. This has created a situation where around 3500-4500 tickets are free to students. The limit is purely set by the amount HCC can afford to pay with the available fee money. Other shows, we pay a certain fee to the artist. Ticket distribution is then determined by HCC. In this case, we have given students ample opportunity to reserve a ticket. The unreserved/unpicked up tickets are then sold to the public. All Devine is then reinvested into HCC and the other student fee areas to add to each Student Organization’s ability to serve students. It was the student body who developed the fee idea and had it passed by a campus wide election via a referendum. If students currently feel it is an unresponsible cost they have every right to pass a referendum saying so. However, I don’t beleive the .50 per credit hour for this cultural programming is adding significantly to student debt. To address the comments about profit, I would like to reiterate that this group is not aimed at turning profits, but maximizing the funds to provide the best show possible. To address the smaller concert idea, when the student fee for HCC was passed, the students specially voted to have a headliner concert per semester. Also, Universoty Programs does provide around two concerts per year in the Greek theatre. Due to construction, this year they brought the Eli Young Band to the AMP.
Other issues, we do not use Bud Walton, but barnhill arena.
Also, if the HCC funding was removed, most of the shows we would bring would never happen. The HCC has provided increased awareness to the NWA area as a venue for large shows. So not to hate on Arkinvestor’s love of the free hand of the market deciding, the fact remains, that HCC is the reason for these shows. The option of letting parents decide which shows to purchase tickets for their children to attend is irrelevant because once again these shows would most likely not occur without HCC.
I would also like to commend the crew at George’s Majestic Lounge, the Walton Arts Center, and the Green Machine for continuing to bring great shows and to grow their venue capabilities. In the end, all of these groups are working together to provide the students of the University and the local residents of NWA with increasingly more opportunities to see great artists.
The comment about Bud Walton was indeed a typo.
“To address the comments about profit, I would like to reiterate that this group is not aimed at turning profits, but maximizing the funds to provide the best show possible.”
You can’t do that with the money you currently have available?
“To address the smaller concert idea, when the student fee for HCC was passed, the students specially voted to have a headliner concert per semester.
Yeah, I remember that. I voted for it. My beef is that I feel this money is being under-utilized. I would be curious to know how your per show cost compares to that of one of Brian Crown’s (George’s/AMP) shows at the AMP. Yes, I realize that I’ll never see either set of numbers. Just trying to make a point.
31.50?
Oh you mean 40 bucks. Because no one ever sells tickets for the price on the front. They all have to add at least 30% in stupid fees onto them.
What is the point of this? It’s just blatant lying.
You’re not selling through Ticketmaster or tickets.com. So why the hell are we still being charged these outrageous “fees” for attending a concert?
The lonelyweeblo any citizen actually has the right to view any and all finances when it comes to public finances. We have nothing to hide. Look into the Freedom of Information Act.
Many of our shows cost around 140-175k or more. We generally have a budget between 200-250k. If we generated no revenue on the first show, we would only have 60–75k for a second show. Therefore, we attempt the balance of providing an opportunity for as many students as possible to see each show with the ability to provide to equally big shows a year.
Mr. Crowne does a great job with his shows. He has actually helped us out tremendously in the past, specifically with the Blake Shelton show. You are welcome to email me and I will be happy to explain to you how this works and how we attempt to maximize every penny that is given to us.
Wesley
We no longer use ticketmaster for various reasons, but are happy to use the local Walton Arts Center Ticket office to assist in the distribution of tickets. The fees associated with buying tickets are proportional to the software costs and additional bandwidth costs it takes to run a modern online ticket system.
If we were running our shows like the AMP I suppose we could charge the $100 plus ticket charges that often occur.
The 30% figure is in fact a gross exaggeration to the fee associated with online ticket sales.
“The lonelyweeblo any citizen actually has the right to view any and all finances when it comes to public finances. We have nothing to hide. Look into the Freedom of Information Act.”
You are correct. Still doesn’t help someone wanting to compare your use of funds with a private company’s.
” You are welcome to email me and I will be happy to explain to you how this works and how we attempt to maximize every penny that is given to us.”
I’m sure I’m not the only who would be interested in seeing how the HCC maximizes every penny. Why don’t you just post it on here?
KID CUDI ROCKS!
HCC consistently brings acts that are on par or exceeding the caliber of performer you’d see at the AMP (usually exceeding), but with a focus on providing students first dibs on tickets (which they receive for free) and ample opportunity to claim them. Just about every show has had some leftovers that are then sold to the public and, if my memory isn’t too terrible, the price of those tickets have been pretty consistent over the last 5 years and usually less expensive than what you would pay at another venue.
Other than the “let students choose which fees they pay!” argument, I have no idea why people dislike HCC so much. They offer a decent variety of entertainment and many of the acts they book would only normally route through Little Rock or, if we were lucky, Tulsa.
Bailey,
Thank you for your clear and thorough responses here, I sincerely appreciate your explanations. I’ve worked with two people from the HCC and they both echoed your words here. I’m glad that the “let students pick what they want to pay for” crowd isn’t in charge of the university, or else the UA might not be able to afford the health center, concerts, the amazing guest lecturers and other services all students have access to. Moving here from a big city, I appreciate the HCC having enough funds to attract big-name acts to Fayetteville. And, if the HCC turns a profit that it uses to attract even bigger acts, more power to you! Keep up the solid work.