ASMSU to host spring show without Breslin

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ASMSU’s efforts to co-sponsor a December concert with Breslin Center have fizzled and the group now is working alone on a potential spring concert that likely will happen in February.

Citing timing and difficulties relative to coordinating a concert with Breslin, group officials chose to push back the date and decide to fund the concert itself.

ASMSU is MSU’s undergraduate student government.

At Thursday’s meeting, Morgan Green, ASMSU’s director of event planning, said the group decided to move forward without Breslin because of time issues.

Green also said coordination efforts with Breslin were not conducive to putting on a concert in December.

“When you’re trying to co-sponsor an event, it gets difficult to make decisions,” Green said. “This time around there’ll be more time to plan.”

Although ASMSU officials said timing was the main issue, Cheryl Swanson, Breslin’s executive director, said the group never came forward with a concrete plan.

“There was discussion but nothing ever presented itself to either one of us,” Swanson said. “If an appropriate show they wanted to work on showed itself, I’m sure we would have partnered. We’re always exploring opportunities.”

The assembly voted Thursday to approve a revised concert authorization bill, allocating $44,000 in additional funds. The original bill passed in October and authorized the group to spend $36,000 to fund the concert. The concert now has a budget of $80,000.

ASMSU spokesperson Portia McKenzie said the group is working to pin down an artist, date and location for the concert. She said ASMSU will choose between Breslin and the Auditorium, with the latter ultimately costing less.

“The venue is dependent upon what artists and when it’s actually booked,” McKenzie said in an e-mail. “(ASMSU’s event planning office) will have extra months to plan it, and with extra funds reallocated, it will make for a bigger and better show.”

The revised concert bill allocated $28,000 from budget rollovers and $52,000 to provide a safety net of funding. Eric Branoff, Student Assembly’s vice chairperson for external affairs, said the increased amount of time to plan the concert would allow the organization to put on the best possible show.

“By moving the concert to the spring … it would allow us to work over Christmas break to lock in a popular yet affordable artist,” he said.

He said the group plans to spend $70,000 in artist fees and $10,000 in production costs, which include artist hospitality and promotion.

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