Brian Cicero, the new music chair of Student Production’s Concert Board, wants to transform Party in the Park by letting the student body have more input.
“I don’t want people getting mad because we didn’t pick the artist they wanted,” said Cicero, a senior business marketing major.
For the past three years, Kristen Mathe ran the show behind the spring concert at UT. Mathe graduated last spring and ushered in Cicero, who was a member of the board for the 2012-13 academic year, to take her place as the music chair for Student Productions.
“I absolutely loved being music chair and spent three years developing and improving the concert,” Mathe said. “It was definitely hard handing over the reins after dedicating so much to the concert.”
Mathe said she cannot wait to see how future chairs likes Cicero will continue to improve the annual Party in the Park.
Cicero plans on following Mathe’s blueprints for organizing concert events. However, he wants to be more straightforward with students so they do not get misled.
“I revamped the survey,” Cicero said. “In the past, they picked artists that didn’t fit in the budget.”
Previously, the Blackboard survey that allows students to pick which artists they would like to see perform at the spring concert listed specific musician names. Students might have seen their favorite artist listed and assumed they would perform. This year, Cicero changed the survey to a more general format.
“To eliminate the confusion on how we choose the artist, I chose to just put genres [on the survey],” Cicero said. “It’ll also be a complete surprise to them.”
Also, The Party in the Park budget was increased, so Cicero hopes to switch up the types of musical acts that visit UT.
“It’s been pretty much hip-hop for the past three years,” Cicero said.
Slightly Stoopid was expected to play in 2010, but the show cancelled due to rain. In 2011, B.o.B. performed for the spring concert, and Lupe Fiasco performed in 2012. 3OH!3 and White Panda performed this past spring.
Connor Cox, a sophomore international business major, also hopes Student Productions will bring in some different and unexpected musicians.
“I would like more alternative and indie rock, but I think more of club and electronica music would appeal more to UT students,” Cox said.
Cicero seeks to please students like Cox, and he is excited to see which genres of music he and the rest of the Concert Board will be able to bring to UT.
Natalie hicks can be reached at natalie.hicks@theminaretonline.com