By Reagan Russell

Every year, the SRC faces anticipated disappointment over the O-Week concert. However, rarely does anything change. While in recent years the stage has been upgraded and a new and improved stage is nice, if it only has artists we’ve never even heard of performing on it, how important is it really?

Photo courtesy of Yuki Fukamitsa

The SRC budget for Orientation Week is not that big. It is dependent on the number of incoming students, among other factors, but it is nowhere near the amount of money that larger schools like Western or even Laval get. Love him or hate him, Sombr performed at Laval’s Welcome Concert this year, and we at least can recognize that name.

Unfortunately, there is not a huge difference between a performer that costs $10,000 or $20,000, but around $50,000, there starts to be more of a difference. However, this is a huge portion of the already small O-Week budget. Students on campus also have a general need to know the music played on campus. A cheaper, up- and-coming artist isn’t the vibe for the Quad.

Last year, Lu Kala brought in a bigger crowd of upper-year students, creating more of a fundraising concert event, like WinterFest for the SRC. Lu Kala at last year’s Orientation Week was a bigger, more well-known artist, but she isn’t even competing when compared to Western University’s concert this past year: The Chainsmokers. Even a quick Google search values a private concert headlined by the Chainsmokers at a minimum of $500,000 per event. This is around five times the cost of all O-week activities combined, based on previous O-week budgets. The SRC cannot be expected to have such a well-known artist come out with the lack of funds. In support of the SRC’s choice this year, a student commented that “the concert is a big part of O-Week, but I think you can have an amazing time regardless of how big the artist is”, whereas other students reiterate that the event is held as the grand inale to the week and becomes “kind of a letdown.”

As for ways to prioritize money from the budget to allocate to the Concert, the SRC would need to change the original Orientation Week set-up. In many ways, activities and events are standard from year to year with different branding tweaks to make the event more on theme. A student volunteer commented that “I feel we did all the same things as last year, and we had a crappier concert.”

Photo courtesy of Yuki Fukamitsa

Could the SRC keep key events like the Scavenger Hunt, Field Day, and serenading the Principal, and focus the rest of the budget on a better performer? Can alumni chip in funds? Or should the SRC stray from the live performance route, as students claim, “it would have been better if they just hired a DJ to play the original songs”, in comparison to the band that predominantly performed covers.

As for planning O-Week and the concert, I have been there and done that. I don’t think there’s necessarily a right or wrong answer to this issue, but money only goes so far. Bishop’s O-Week is unique and different from many universities. Serenading the Principal is an iconic component of O-Week, and it is free. So are many club-sponsored, student-led events like line dancing workshops. Could O-Week be more sustainable with their money and encourage student connection in this way, and create more buzz for the Friday Concert? When students are saying how “the cover band felt like KidsBop”, things need to change.

The SRC was contacted to comment on this issue and did not respond.