The group mainly responsible for bringing Bill Cosby and Marcel Marceau to the U needs student input.
Kingsbury Hall is forming a student council to gain feedback on selecting artists to present and on marketing those events to the students.
The council currently has five students serving on it, but they hope to have 20 students soon.
According to Josh Paulsen, the marketing coordinator for Kingsbury Hall who also serves on the student council, the hall is not heavily used by students.
“After talking to a lot of students, a lot of them haven’t even been to Kingsbury Hall,” Paulsen said. “I really want students at Kingsbury Hall, that’s good business for us. The experiences [students] gain here at the U form lasting habits for seeing other performances.”
The student council will advise the hall on which artists should perform, the times and the prices.
“We want their advice,” said Lynda Christensen, Kingsbury Hall’s manager of events and operations. “We need to get all kinds of input to put on a show for them.”
Kingsbury Hall only recently began to present artists. In the past, the hall has been rented out to other production companies, but has not recruited and presented artists. Although the hall now presents artists, Paulsen stressed that the main presenting body on campus is still the Presenter’s Office of the Associated Students of the University of Utah.
Because Kingsbury Hall presents artists, they can offer tickets to students at a discounted rate, which is often difficult to negotiate with traveling production companies.
According to Christensen, the hall’s mission is to serve the students because “there wouldn’t be a U without them.” This is why the hall wants the input of students in recruiting performers.
“That would be the greatest thing for us if we could get a hit student performance,” Paulsen said.
The five-member student council has only met once this year, but they plan to meet on a monthly basis.
The council discussed ideas for spreading information to students about Kingsbury Hall during the first meeting, according to council member Kami Farnsworth.
“I got to share my opinions and see how that goes to working for them,” Farnsworth said. “I’m sure they’ll put it into work. I think they’re great ideas.”
The council will also work with publicity, posting fliers and hosting a contest booth that will give away tickets to performances. Kingsbury Hall gives members of the student council free tickets to events as compensation for their time.