Campus Involvement programs included some popular events, especially Cole Swindell and Tyler Farr.
The Performing Arts and Concert Series strived for diversity and nostalgia through its programming for the 2015-16 academic school year.
According to Andrew Holzaepfel, the senior associate director of the Campus Involvement Center, some of the more popular performances included Third Eye Blind, Cashore Marionettes and Mountain Stage, but overall, country singers Tyler Farr and Cole Swindell were the most popular.
Cole Swindell’s concert sold out with more than 1,900 tickets, and about 1,600 tickets were sold for Tyler Farr, Holzaepfel said.
“Normally for those type of things we’re just trying to cover expenses,” he added. “But we definitely made positive money on that show.”
Jeffrey Billingslea, the president of Black Student Cultural Programming Board, said his organization collaborated with the Performing Arts and Concert Series this year for three shows.
The collaboration entails BSCPB donating money to different productions that it deems beneficial to the organization. This year, three shows were chosen by BSCPB, including Blind Boys of Alabama, Vocalosity and Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat.
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Billingslea, a junior studying political science, said the general purpose of collaborating with the Performing Arts and Concert series is to “just get the general body and executive board members acclimated to the arts and how to be a proper consumer of the arts.”
Normally, BSCPB collaborates with the Performing Arts and Concert Series for about three to five shows each year.
“(The series is) just trying to get everyone an all-around experience and a learning experience as well,” Billingslea said.
Char Kopchick, the assistant dean of students for the Campus Involvement Center, said the Performing Arts and Concert series strives to program acts that appeal to a diverse audience.
“It was fabulously diverse,” Kopchick said of this year's series. “Seriously, I say (that) because a lot of people don’t realize that there really is an art to putting together the series.”
Kopchick said many of the performances offered not only a diverse perspective but also an appeal to everyone.
Some things that Holzaepfel and Kopchick take into consideration when programming shows are the feedback from the audience, affordability and capacity.
“It becomes a big puzzle. … So after all of that work, we keep our fingers crossed that it is as awesome as what we think it’s going to be,” Kopchick added. “This year, it was … a wonderful blend of things.”
In addition, the Campus Involvement Center aims to educate not only Ohio University students, but elementary and high school students in Southeast Ohio.
“That’s all what makes us excited about the performing arts because I find if you introduce, especially young elementary school students, to the arts, they begin to love them and appreciate them,” Kopchick said.
One show that the Performing Arts and Concert series has planned for next year is Rent, which will be celebrating it’s 20th anniversary.
When the production comes to campus, there will be a week of HIV and AIDS educational programming on campus and in the Athens community.
Kopchick said one of her favorite aspects about planning events is seeing students get excited about seeing a play or listening to a quartet.
“That’s why part of this is the exposure, and then, you get hooked,” she said. “It’s something that you do enjoy doing, and you know every year we do.”
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