Live entertainment for Northwestern students isn’t going anywhere — University administration agreed to provide an additional $707,175 in annual student group funding starting this year.
The funding increase intends to address limited Student Activities Finance Committee funding that is unable to cover all the expenses of student groups, according to SESP sophomore and Associated Student Government co-President Caleb Snead.
This year, the committee allocated $2.15 million to student organizations. However, the lower bound of requests from student groups was $3.3 million, and the upper bound was $3.95 million, Snead said.
During negotiations with administration, Snead said ASG prioritized the production costs for three student organizations — Mayfest Productions, A&O Productions and NU Dance Marathon — because they produce long-standing traditions on campus and have predictable funding requirements.
Snead said the University relies on these organizations’ events for public relations and recruitment purposes.
“With the additional $707,000 in funding, SAFC can guarantee that Dillo Day, various A&O productions and Dance Marathon have adequate funding to produce high-quality events that the orgs are proud of and students are excited to attend,” Snead said.
The additional funding will make more money available for other student organizations and decrease the budget deficit, according to Snead. The $707,000 will be allocated to the three organizations in future years and will be adjusted for inflation.
Of the new funding pool, Snead said about $481,000 will be allocated to Mayfest, $154,000 to A&O and $71,000 to NUDM.
Student Organizations & Activities Associate Director and NUDM adviser Joe Lattal said the funding will help with the rising NUDM costs.
“Additional funding is always helpful, because so many of the production costs of Dance Marathon are beyond the University’s control,” Lattal said. “The event relies heavily on local and regional suppliers for staging, lights, audio equipment and lots of other components of the event.”
Like NUDM, Mayfest has also faced rising costs for necessary components of Dillo Day. Mayfest told ASG about these needs during the negotiations, the organization said in a statement to The Daily.
“The SAFC funding increase will greatly benefit Mayfest in our ability to execute the festival at industry standards and provide the student body with the best possible Dillo experience,” Mayfest said in the statement.
Snead said ASG received the news about the funding increase in mid-April, following meetings with senior administration members detailing the impact of last year’s additional $611,000 in University funding for student groups.
“Having the additional funding will provide peace of mind that, even with rising costs for a lot of contracted needs, (NUDM) still will be able to put on a high quality event,” Lattal said.
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— The Daily Explains: How student groups receive funding from NU
— ASG Senate allocates $66k in additional funding to student organizations
