The Duke University Union plans to continue bringing high-profile musical artists to campus next year, a goal reflected in its budget allocations for the 2009-2010 academic year.
The Union's $679,162.85 budget-an increase of $46,162.85 from this year's total-was distributed to Union subcommittees and approved last week by the University Union Board, DUU's oversight body. Major changes to the budget include a $36,019 cut from LiveEnt, a reallocation of marketing funds and $17,070 and $40,550 increases to Major Speakers and Major Attractions, respectively, said DUU President Zachary Perret, a junior.
"The increase for Major Speakers and Major Attractions are in part because of the high demand for their shows," Perret said. "We're trying to allocate our resources effectively so that undergraduates want to be involved and will want to attend shows."
Major Attractions Director Liz Turner, a junior, said the rising price of programming was another factor in the budget increase, adding that the committee would occasionally face fluctuating or unexpected costs.
Turner said Freewater Presentations, for example, could expect their programming fees to remain relatively stable, but the costs for Major Attractions could vary from one performance to another.
"One of the big issues was the fear that the cost of everything is going up across the board and that artists would be hesitant to travel because travel costs are higher," she said. "We added some wiggle room into the budget so that if something unexpected did come up, we wouldn't have to sacrifice the quality of the performance."
The most significant budget cut was in the LiveEnt committee, which saw its budget decrease more than $36,000-from $92,500 this year to $56,481 next year.
"In the past, the purpose of LiveEnt has been to bring Broadway and high-budget musicals to Duke, and with the emergence of [the Durham Performing Arts Center], there's a lot less demand for that right now," Perret said. "DPAC has a lot more money and much better facilities than we do, and for us to try to compete with DPAC would be a huge waste."
Both Perret and LiveEnt Director Kirsten Johansson, a freshman, said the committee next year will likely focus on booking smaller shows like Second City, the sketch comedy troupe that performed in Reynolds Theater in February.
The annual budget also included a restructuring of the way DUU marketing is organized, said DUU Executive Marketing Co-Director Adam Barron, a junior. He said that marketing funds are built into subcommittee budgets and that marketing will be a collaborative effort between the Marketing Committee and the subcommittees.
"Last year, our $10,000 budget was supposed to pay for all other committees' marketing, so if any of the 14 subcommittees wanted major marketing, it would come from our budget," he said. "It was hard because we had to be on top of our budget to make sure no single committee got more of the funding, and we tried to make sure the money got split up evenly."
Barron said next year's marketing budget of $2,500 will be dedicated solely to the promotion of general Union brand marketing. In addition, the committee will continue to search for alternative marketing methods, he said.
"Regardless of what specific part of the budget is spent for marketing, our committee will try to find new and innovative ways to market for free or for a very cheap price," Barron said, adding that Facebook and video marketing are possible media for DUU's new approach.
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