Springtime brings warmer weather and many opportunities for students to venture outside, but with the nice weather comes the end of the Campus Involvement Center’s Emerging Artist Series for this year.
Spring makes it tough to coordinate many indoor activities because many students want to stay outside and enjoy the nice weather, said Rachel Figley, graduate assistant for campus programs and a graduate student studying public relations.
The Emerging Artist Series provided students with an opportunity to listen to local, regional and national bands every Thursday since its implementation Fall Quarter.
Ohio University has had multiple coffeehouse concerts, but the Campus Involvement Center wanted to create a weekly program that students could become familiar with, said Andrew Holzaepfel, associate director of the Campus Involvement Center.
Holzaepfel, along with the help of the student program team, put together the acts for Fall Quarter during the summer and passed on the Winter Quarter responsibilities to Figley.
Both Holzaepfel and Figley wanted a variety of musicians from different genres to perform but found that the coffeehouse atmosphere limited some options.
“It’s harder for some of the ‘harder’ bands to play a set in The Front Room, so we are hoping to move the Emerging Artist Series down to the new Baker Lounge for next year,” Figley said.
That was the plan all along, Holzaepfel said.
“We want to brand the new lounge downstairs as a place for old students, but new students particularly, where they can go to have a fun time throughout the week,” he said. “It’s hard to tell a senior to come check it out because it isn’t in their culture, but new students are looking for things to do.”
The local band The Burning River Ramblers, who filled in for someone who had dropped out Jan. 19, hopes to experience the new Baker Lounge as part of the Emerging Artist Series next year, saidConor Standish, lead singer of the band and a senior studying psychology.
“One of the reasons we would do it again is for exposure,” he said. “Although it may be eight on a Thursday night, new listeners are always walking through Baker Center, and that’s what we need as a new band.”
ao007510@ohiou.edu
