Will Ben Fold? HCC Hopes Not

Musicians Ben Folds and Chris Mills will be the central focus at this year’s Yardfest in Tercentenary Theater—the President’s Office’s revamped version of Springfest. While these performers, in terms of their mainstream appeal, may not be a radical departure from previous acts that have appeared at Harvard (Guster, Busta Rhymes, Bob Dylan all performed in the past, though not at Springfest), the logistics behind this year’s concert have shifted considerably.

According to the Harvard Concert Committee (HCC), 2006 marks a renewed commitment to undergraduate life: an event that is made for, and planned by, students at the College. This year, the HCC was given unprecedented authority in preparing for the fest. It remains to be seen, however, how much of this authority will be extended to the student body at large.

Yardfest reflects a “changed way of operating,” explains G. Tyler O’Brien ’07, chair of the HCC. The HCC has planned on-campus concerts for the past three years.

Their methods have not gone without criticism; the most notorious—and certainly most recent—clash between the committee and the campus was over the proposed Wyclef Jean concert, where high costs and low student interest ultimately resulted in a last-minute cancellation of the event.

Lauren P.S. Epstein ’07—who is promotion chair of the HCC and who also planned last year’s Springfest—acknowledges that previous events have also been criticized for their disproportionate focus on family and neighboring community, rather than on the College. Springfest, in recent years, has been built around food and carnival games, which may seem less than age-appropriate when compared with similar events at other schools. Penn’s Spring Fling, for instance, is known for its free-flowing alcohol and most recently featured a concert with O.A.R.

HCC’s reforms for Yardfest aim to address chronic students complaints by creating a more College-centered—rather than family-oriented—event, one that features a pop concert as its main event. The committee regards the Ben Folds performance, with its free admission as well as its location in the Yard, as statements of their commitment to the undergraduate experience.

Not everyone agrees with the committee’s new focus. While some students, such as Chad R. Cannon ’09, expressed enthusiasm for the Ben Folds performance—“I’m planning on being back here from New York so I can go to it,” he says—others show less interest.

Catherine L.H. Matthews ’06 says she preferred the Springfest activities from previous years, and also takes issue with the Tercentenary Theatre setting. Although the location is meant to symbolize an undergraduate event, Matthews sees it differently. “It seems like now it’s just focused on the freshmen,” she says.

Such differences in opinion may indicate a desire for more student participation in planning future events. In past festivals where the President’s Office has offered funding, student control was more limited; however, this year the dynamic of student input has changed.

During the preparations for the 2003 Springfest, which featured alterna-rock band The Verve Pipe as a performer, the president’s office, in addition to the HCC, had “some input” in the artists being considered for performance, recalls Michael R. Blickstead ’05, former vice-president of the Undergraduate Council (UC).

The creation of a social programming board, which would devote itself to events like Yardfest, has recently been proposed in the UC. The fact that, this year, the HCC was given full autonomy by the President’s Office to choose an artist also marks a shift in student control over the festival. Still, HCC’s methods of analyzing student opinion have often been indirect.

The decision to select Folds, according to O’Brien, was based on “informal polling,” information gathering on facebook.com, and larger contextual factors such as Folds’ multi-campus tour at Swarthmore, Vanderbilt, and Yale this spring, which seemed to the committee to reflect a considerable fan base.

In preparing for next year’s festival, HCC says it hopes to broaden student input.

An online poll, recently established on their website, allows a user to “plan your own concert,” selecting from a list of performers and venues to create a tailor-made event. The main emphasis of the current poll is a logistical one: each band and venue has a price tag associated with it, and at the end users are given an estimated price for the event they have planned.

“Who would you like to bring to Harvard?” the site asks. “Where would you like them to perform? How much would you need to set ticket prices at to just about break even?”

Epstein emphasizes that this feature is “more of a game,” and that a more serious poll will be established once planning for Yardfest ’07 begins in earnest.