Although University Union Concerts is faced with its largest budget cut in its history, the organization was able to book Ben Folds as its first large show of the semester.

Folds was originally scheduled to perform at Syracuse University in early December, but had to cancel due to illness, according to Adam Gorode and Sherlen Archibald, co-executive directors for UU Concerts.

‘As soon as we found out we tried to find the next available date for the show,’ Archibald said.

After learning that the show would have to be cancelled, UU Concerts asked permission from former Student Association comptroller Maggie Misztal to use the funds already approved for the event and push it up to Jan. 29, according to Andrew Urankar, the current SA comptroller.

‘It was just a logistical problem,’ Urankar said. ‘The funds were able to carry over because the budget had already been approved during the spring of last year.’

UU Concerts has received several concerns that more acts such as Ben Folds will not come to campus this semester due to the organization’s budget cuts. Archibald and Gorode said they hope the concert will trigger more support for UU among students.

‘We view this concert as a normal event,’ Gorode said. ‘We’re putting our money where our mouth is and saying, ‘Look, provide us the funding, and we’ll provide you with the programming.”

But the decision falls entirely upon the finance board, Gorode said. Without money from the student fee, UU Concerts will not be able to finance events through fundraising because of the high costs.

‘As it stands, every bill we proposed (last semester) has been sent back (to the finance board),’ Gorode said, ‘The finance board is our last option, without them we can’t fund these events.’

Urankar plans to hold a finance board meeting within the next week to discuss the budget proposals that were sent back at last semester’s SA budget meeting. The finance board will then submit a new financial proposal to the SA assembly for UU Concerts.

‘We’re going to look at everything as a whole all over again,’ Urankar said. ‘Some students are not feeling UU right now but they really need this large-scale programming that we’re hearing they want. Things like the block party are staple events at SU.’

Until UU Concerts receives funding from the finance board and SA, it cannot place bids on artists, which could lead to several weeks without programming.

‘The reality is artists and their managers want to be paid, and without funding we can’t book anything,’ Gorode said. ‘We hope the board recognizes that students want big events such as Ben Folds.’

Published on January 17, 2005 at 12:00 pm