American University
WASHINGTON – The crowd was roaring as the band Skyline Hotel finished up its last song, hoping the judges took notice of their musical skills at a battle of the bands event at American University.
“Those guys were amazing,” said Battle of the Bands judge Jack Dodge just a few weeks after the event, which was held at College of Arts and Sciences. “They sounded like a real rock band that you would hear on the radio.”
Had it not been for American University’s Student Union Board awarding the band with the $700 cash prize, Skyline Hotel would have not had the opportunity to advance its musical agenda.
“SUB was great,” said Skyline Hotel’s bassist, Zack Be. “They did the hard work of keeping the crowd interested between acts, and they helped us with whatever we needed logistically.”
The Student Union Board is a student-run organization that programs as a subsidiary of the university’s Student Government. Student Union Board is responsible for bringing entertainment events, primarily concerts, to American’s campus. Since the organization started to host concerts in 1960, they have hired headliners including Nirvana, Bruce Springsteen, A$AP Ferg, and most recently Metro Boomin.
According to the American University Magazine, the Nirvana concert was one of the most popular shows in the history of the Student Union Board. The band performed for 1,000 students at Bender arena in 1993, which was just five months before lead singer, Kurt Cobain, committed suicide.
“SUB has always done large scale shows,” said Dawson Bristol, former Student Union Board director and current freelance sound engineer. “The organization even brought in the Grateful Dead back in the day.” Bristol also said that AmFest was one of the board’s strongest additions in recent years.
AmFest is a small-scale music festival that has been hosted yearly in April since 2016 on American’s campus at the Tavern within Mary Graydon Center. The most popular headliner to date is rapper Aminé, who was brought in to perform for a crowd of hundreds earlier this year.
Bristol said, “AmFest is still in its infancy, but hopefully it can be developed and grow in the future.”
The majority of the students who hold positions within Student Union Board are hoping to work in the entertainment industry one day, and many staff members believe that Student Union Board provides them with internship-level training and experience.
“SUB is allowing me to understand how the industry works, and I’m directly working with artists, management, contractions and negotiations,” said Hana Braverman, the Student Union Board hospitality coordinator. “They are all part of my curriculum, but I’m learning it in real time.”
As for preparing for an event, Student Union Board production director, Brian Harrington, said there is plenty of behind-the-scenes work necessary to pull off a successful show.
Harrington said that concerts require planning from a variety of different divisions of the board. The departments that contribute the most on show days include hospitality, social media, marketing and graphics.
The board’s most recent show was the Metro Boomin concert during the student welcome week in August. Metro Boomin is a well-established producer who has collaborated on songs for the likes of famous rappers such as Travis Scott and Migos.
After Kelow LaTesha, a Maryland rapper, started the night off by performing a high energy set, Metro Boomin displayed his talents on stage by rapping many of his popular songs.
Harrington said that since Metro Boomin is one of the more renowned acts that Student Union Board has booked, the preparation leading up to the show was hectic and busier than usual.
Since the planning of this event was done over the summer, Harrington said that the board had to work harder at communicating with each other because all of the planning had to be done online or through phone calls.
The board outsourced to Contemporary Services Corporation to hire six extra guards for the show, as well as summoning the help of three more guards from the American University Police Department. The organization spent $500 more than usual on the show, making it one of their larger events in recent years.
Harrington said, “There was just a lot more to think about since you’re working with more people and an outside production company. We had to get more security since the show was in Bender. It was just a lot more to think about.”
As for the improvements that Student Union Board has made over the years, the current director of the University Center at American and former senior director of student activities, Michael Elmore, believes that the organization has been doing a better job of implementing new forms of entertainment.
“They have been doing a variety of things on a smaller scale and if they have the opportunity to go into the arena with something big, they will do that,” Elmore said.
Being able to find artists for a cheaper price has also been a new improvement in recent years, since the cost of putting on a show has only gotten more expensive.
Elmore said, “They also do a great job of bringing in the most popular artist that they can afford. The cost of things has changed over time, so directors have been able to easily adapt.”
In terms of comparisons to the entertainment boards at other universities, the organization’s current faculty advisor and former University of Maryland student, Maya Graham, said that Student Union Board is able to operate smoothly without much staff input.
“I came here to American from Maryland, and I think in comparison to them and other boards I’m familiar with, I believe that SUB is a lot more independent and a lot more music specific,” Graham said. “They do a lot of their own decision making.”
As for future plans for Student Union Board, Graham said that they are focusing on improving each installment of AmFest.
“They have always wanted to make AmFest have a name for itself,” Graham said. “Last year we had Aminé, and this year we are definitely trying to have another major artist for that.”
