By Grace Hitzeman
After receiving six applications, the Phebruary Phunds Committee announced that collaborative proposals to hold a semi-formal party and to bring rapper Mike Stud and DJ gLAdiator to campus received the $10,000 made available after the cancellation of Philander’s Phling.
“The Horn Gallery, Peeps, PEAS [People Endorsing Agrarian Sustainability], ECO [Environmental Campus Organization] and the Food Co-Op are combining the Black and White Ball and the Valentine’s Day party and making it a ‘Black, White and Red All Over’ event to be in the Horn Gallery,” said Director of Student Activities and Greek Life Christina Mastrangelo. “So it’s going to be a formal/semi-formal event. They’re going to have the jazz band, and PEAS, ECO and the Food Co-Op are going to help make the food.” Chelsea Farco ‘12, who served on the committee, added that the event will be DJ-ed by WKCO.
Mastrangelo also revealed that the KAC Heads got funding to bring the rapper Mike Stud to campus and Social Board is going to bring DJ gLAdiator to campus to host a toga party. “That might change, but the essence is that it will be a themed event with DJs – student DJs and a DJ brought from the outside – as the highlight of the event,” Mastrangelo said.
Mastrangelo also applauded the members of the committee for drawing on a wealth of campus experience to make their proposals. “It was a great committee composition” she said. “Having someone from every class council, BFC [Business and Finance Committee], Greek Life, Student Life Committee, we really got a diverse perspective of the Kenyon student and their interests. Everyone was really unbiased.”
Mastrangelo asked Farco, who served as social coordinator for Greek Committee last year, to serve on the committee and provide the perspective of someone involved in the process last year. “[The makeup of the board] was pretty comprehensive and the students that got to sit in on it each brought very different perspectives,” Farco said.
The committee’s decision was unanimous, according to Mastrangelo. “They had over an hour-long discussion after all the presentations to find what’s a good mix of all the programs that were submitted that really appeal to different audiences and the Kenyon students.” The committee tweaked many of the events that did receive funding so that they committee could fund more programs. “A lot of the proposals took up almost the entire $10,000 we could allocate, so we talked about making some of the events smaller-scale so we could do a bunch of smaller events throughout February instead of just one big thing on one day,” Farco said.
For example, the committee moved events from Thomas Hall to Peirce Pub to save about $5,000. “The logic was looking at the spacing of how we could reduce the sound costs – which are the most expensive – especially when you want to have concerts and things like that,” Mastrangelo said. They can even cost more than the performer. When you think about staging, lighting, sound and all that, you’re looking at maybe $5,000. The committee felt that maybe having multiple events with smaller venues would accommodate the different interests that people have.”
While the Horn and Pub are smaller venues, Mastrangelo is not concerned that their size will limit the crowds these events hope to draw.” Peirce is the only venue that could fit every student” she said, “[but] not even Peirce can do that except for standing. [And] not everyone went to Phling either.”
When deciding which events to fund, Mastrangelo took a number of issues into consideration. “Would this be of interest to students? Would this be cost-effective, with a return of student interest and attendance? Can this student organization pull an event like this off? Meaning, do they have the man-power and volunteers necessary to execute the event? Have they thoroughly considered their budget and the logistics that need to be figured out?”
Farco advised that if a group wants to apply for funding next year, they should “research everything, and in that budget, don’t guess. Make sure you contact people to get the right information, … look at the maintenance fees and talk to people at the Student Activities Office because they will tell you what you need to do to plan an event like this.”
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