NC State’s University Activities Board (UAB) consistently brings in famous artists to perform at NC State’s recurring concert events like packHOWL and Wolfstock. The Wolfpack is wondering, where does the UAB get the funds and resources to book such musicians?
Most recently, the UAB announced that Waka Flocka Flame — a popular rapper, bearing over 4.5 million monthly listeners on Spotify — would perform at this year’s packHOWL in November.
UAB President Christine O’Donnell, a fourth-year studying psychology and French, said the UAB budget is funded by student fees, meaning the organization’s funding is dependent on student enrollment for the year. O’Donnell said divvying up these funds depends on the event it’s going to.
“In terms of allocating funds based on the events, such as Wolfstock or packHOWL, or any events that our other committees do, it just depends on the event needs and what we deem to be most equitable,” O’Donnell said.
As for how the UAB secures such popular musicians, Tara Spencer, a third-year studying psychology and chair of the UAB Spirit Committee, said UAB books artists through a production company called Babco Entertainment.
“The Entertainment Committee figures out what would be popular,” Spencer said. “At the beginning of summer we did a survey on what people would want and most of the results ended up being Waka Flocka Flame.”
Although packHOWL tickets do come at a cost to students, many of the UAB events are free to the student body and the surrounding Raleigh community. This includes Wolfstock, NC State’s festival-style concert series hosted in the spring semester. Spencer said this is the organization’s largest event, considering it hosts multiple musical artists and requires the presence of an elaborate outdoor stage. Despite this, O’Donnell said external finances have not been required to pay for this event, as they rely entirely on their budget.
When asked which events generate revenue and where that profit goes to, O’Donnell said only a few events per year generate revenue, but that money is largely redirected back into the event students are purchasing tickets for.
“A lot of the time the money that we do get from ticketed events, the only two we currently do are packHOWL and Red and White Ball,” O’Donnell said. “All of that goes back into the event and typically it doesn’t even cover a portion of the cost.”
However, Spencer said any extra money that might not be directly used is saved for various events in the months following.
“It’s not necessarily an additional student fee, you’re just helping with the events in the future when you pay for those tickets,” Spencer said. “I think it’s really beneficial for us. We have a large budget, but we could always use more. So even if it’s only two, I think it’s good to have those ticketed events.”
While few of UAB’s events come at an additional cost to students who want to attend, O’Donnell said UAB does offer help for those who might not be able to pay.
“We do try to make our events as accessible as possible for the events that are ticketed if a student is concerned about being able to pay,” O’Donnell said.
Spencer said students can reach out to UAB if ticket cost is an issue.
“If [the student] messages us directly and they need financial assistance, we can definitely help them out with that,” Spencer said. “We control who is on our guest list so we can add them if they need financial assistance.”
For more information about UAB and upcoming events, check out their website.
