On January 30, 1970, a Northwestern tradition began as Blood, Sweat and Tears took the stage in front of a crowd of 6,448 in McGaw Memorial Hall for Activities & Organizations Productions’ first concert. A group of students had formally met and began planning the event in 1969.
This year, A&O is celebrating its 40th anniversary. The organization has grown from its auspicious concert beginnings into a powerhouse student organization that has brought major musical acts like Bob Dylan and Kanye West to campus.
Communication junior Barry McCardel, co-director of Promotions and Public Relations for A&O, said the group didn’t realize it was its 40th anniversary until members began exploring A&O’s archives earlier this year. McCardel said they discovered A&O’s inaugural board meeting was held on Nov. 22, 1969, several years earlier than they had thought.
A&O is still working on confirming the exact timeline of its inception, McCardel said. A&O originated as the Activities and Organizations Board of the Associated Student Government, according to Daily archives.
The evolution of A&O as a student organization is evident in the University Archives. And not only have the musical acts changed over the years, but the way A&O operates as an organization has developed as well. While the annual A&O Ball held each spring used to be a formal event held at a hotel in Chicago, last year’s was a Ludacris concert open to students in Patten Gymnasium.
There is also a record of colorful footnotes from when performers came to NU.
Saved correspondence between A&O and Phish’s manager shows the band’s request for a gallon of apple juice, smoked ham and hummus. A post-concert evaluation by an A&O member discusses the delay in B.B. King’s performance after he slipped off the tour bus.
One compelling story McCardel and A&O Chairman Adam Pumm found in the archives was an incident in 1977, when the entire A&O board briefly resigned over a funding issue with ASG. There is a picture of the board smiling and holding up a picture of headlines of their resignation.
Throughout its history, McCardel said A&O’s events have unified NU’s campus.
Sometimes, he said, the unifying factor is students’ frustration over not getting tickets to a concert, as was the case last spring when the approximately 1,500 Ludacris tickets sold out within minutes. This fall, however, he said A&O was able to provide around 4,300 tickets for the John Legend concert in Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Pumm said it’s been challenging getting access to venues large enough to support the organization’s increasing ability to sell out concerts.
“There are constraints that we face now that we didn’t in 1969,” the Weinberg senior said.
Until the early 1990s, A&O hosted concerts at a bar called The Gathering Place in Norris University Center. Today, however, the notion of a bar on campus is unheard of, and Pumm said the administration demands to oversee A&O’s actions.
He added that A&O hopes the lack of appropriate venues will be a factor in the University’s new Strategic Plan, and that A&O will try to pursue these interests.McCardel said another perk of the ongoing archival research has been seeing where former board members end up after graduation.
Former A&O chairman Syd Cohen, Weinberg and Bienen ’09, is now working at William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, a talent and literary agency, and credits A&O for providing her with a professional springboard. She said most programming organizations at universities use middle agents or rely heavily on their faculty advisers, but members of A&O get first-hand experience.
“What’s unique and fantastic about A&O is it’s entirely student-run,” she said. “There’s maybe a handful of organizations like that in the country.”
Cohen added people are always talking about the “NU mafia” in the theatre or music industries, and that A&O alumni form a similar base in the professional world. She said there are several recent A&O alumni working at William Morris with her.
A&O’s faculty adviser Judith Cooper said its alumni are just one indicator of the organization’s success. She also mentioned many universities have dropped their film series due to the availability of movies on the Internet, but A&O still shows movies on a larger screen to bring students together.
McCardel said A&O’s review of its own history has spoken to the group’s long-term success.
“One thing that hasn’t changed is that it’s almost unique among universities,” he said. “It’s a self-operating producer and promoter run by 18- to 22-year-olds. I think we’re lucky.”[email protected]
