The Golden Days of Art Attack

Amina Goheer
Concerts Director
seeconcerts@umd.edu

As Art Attack celebrates its last year of youth (next year Art Attack turns the big 3-0), let’s take a quick trip down memory lane. The year was 1984 and Ronald Reagan was still president. His presidency inspired only the greatest things, like the Apple Macintosh and Art Attack (both introduced in the same year). Art Attack I featured Dr. George Ross, KYAG World Premier Music, Stuart Gordon, Improvisations Unlimited and Lithuanian Dance Gabija. If none of those names sound familiar, it’s because Art Attack started out as a small festival centered on student art and design, with a sprinkling of local and student musical acts. From 1984 to 2000 (with the exception of 1989 and 1990), Art Attack took place on McKeldin Mall. As the years passed by and Art Attack received more funding, SEE was able to bring in larger acts. Joan Jett, George Clinton, The Fugees and The Roots all passed through the Mall. 

And then Y2K happened. Art Attack that year was entitled “AAXVII: Everyone on the Mall,” and, boy, did that title come to life. Bloodhound Gang and Outkast performed together, bringing out almost 20,000 students to McKeldin Mall (if you haven’t seen the awesome picture of that crowd, then sneak into the SEE office, fight your way past our aggressive Office Manager and steal a glance at the picture mounted on the wall). Bloodhound Gang’s performance not only brought out droves of spectators, but also packs of protestors who took offense at the group’s sexist and racist lyrics. Four arrests and three hospitals trips convinced campus administrators that Art Attack couldn’t continue on the Mall, where there was no way to properly protect and organize the crowd. As a result, Art Attack was relocated to its new home, Byrd Stadium.  


Since then, Art Attack has featured guest names like Common, Wyclef Jean, All-American Rejects, Nelly, Weezer, Ludacris and this year, B.o.B. Art Attack may no longer be on the Mall but we can still embrace the great University of Maryland pastime. Can't wait to SEE you there. 


Tickets are still available and can be purchased at www.umdtickets.com. 

FAQs about Art Attack XXIX

Amina Goheer
Concerts Director
seeconcerts@umd.edu

The grass is growing, flowers are blooming, allergy-stricken blokes are sneezing in your food and annoying high school students on tours are blocking your way to class. Spring has finally arrived! This means that Art Attack is just around the corner.   

First, I’d like to say thank you. Art Attack is a near-impossible feat considering that we are trying to program for 35K+ students. We understand that we’re not going to please every single person on campus, and as such, we expect to hear some kvetching about Art Attack. So last Monday when we announced Art Attack, we braced ourselves for the usual grouses and grumbles thrown our way. But this time, magically, y’all showed us some love and we do appreciate it! Thank you, UMD community, for letting us know when we’ve done you right. We’re here to please you, so it really tickles us when you like what we do.

While there’s a lot of love circulating about Art Attack XXIX, there are also a lot of good questions being asked. Here, I’m going to tackle some of the commonly asked questions. If you have more questions, e-mail me at seeconcerts@umd.edu and I’ll get around to them!

1. How is the Art Attack artist chosen?

Choosing an artist for Art Attack is a combination of many factors including student input, allocated funds and artist availability. We heavily weigh student input through survey research that is conducted throughout the year. Our intrepid Research Director collects data through online and paper surveys through Facebook, our list-serv, Twitter and at events like the First Look Fair and the SEE Homecoming Comedy Show. 

I then combed through the research results and saw first what genres are popular among students and second, what artists were feasible options for us given our budget. From there, I compiled an exhaustive list of potential artists that I brought to the SEE Executive Board. We discussed and discussed and discussed and discussed. And then a little more discussion was held. And once the discussion was officially done, I still got texts, emails and telegrams with more thoughts, ideas and considerations to factor in. Art Attack is no small deal in the SEE world. It’s our biggest event of the year, and we begin working on it months in advance.

Based on our budget and artist availability, a final survey with four names was given to the students, with B.o.B. listed as an option. As a board, we again looked at the research and finally put in a bid for the artist we thought would best serve the UMD campus.

As Concerts Director, my main focus for Art Attack was to bring a relevant act to campus. B.o.B., with a new album coming out on May 1, is certainly a relevant artist in 2012. His songs are heard all over the radio and his live shows are known to be fun and exciting. He met all of our criteria and not only is in-demand right now, but will certainly only be getting bigger in the near future. 

2. Why don’t you just raise the price of tickets and get us a Beyoncé-Jay Z (with opener Blue Ivy) concert?

It’s not that simple. First, and most importantly, SEE is a student organization, not a business. We’re not here to turn a profit; we’re here to serve the entire student population. We’re not going to let people sit out of our largest event because they can’t afford a $40 ticket. We understand that other schools do it, and that some of you might be willing to pay that much, but that’s not how we operate. We make our events – especially Art Attack – affordable and accessible to everyone, and that’s not going to change.

Also, if you want to see the Knowles-Carter family perform, you can easily hop on the Metro and see them at the Verizon Center. Students at Penn State or Ohio State don’t have that luxury, and as such, their programming boards have very different directives than SEE. While other schools might get bigger names, keep in mind those students often pay much more than we charge for concerts.

Another factor that we have to contend with is that there is only one available date for Art Attack each year. This means that if an artist is already booked or cannot perform on that date (usually the first Friday in May), then they are out of the running for Art Attack.

Eric, our trustworthy Comedy Director who brought you the likes of Aziz Ansari and Seth Meyers, also does a great job at discussing why our ticket prices are the way they are in his blog post – http://www.thisissee.blogspot.com/2012/03/thoughts-behind-seth-meyers.html

3. I thought this year was a “rock year.”  Why do we have another hip-hop act?

The rock-rap-rock commandment is a slight myth. While it’s worked out that in the past three years Art Attack has gone rap-rock-rap, this is not a magical formula that SEE must abide by. What we do abide by is our mission, which states that we must program diversely. As such, we do our best to vary the musical styles and acts we bring to campus each year. This past fall we had a rock concert featuring Ra Ra Riot and our smaller spring show, Terpstock, will feature The Ataris on April 21.

From a programming standpoint, rap and rock are very different. Currently, rock is harder to program for since recognizable rock bands like Coldplay or The Black Keys are extremely expensive and difficult to get. Bands in our price range unfortunately aren’t in demand on campus. There happen to be more rap options for us right now (doesn’t mean we didn’t try our hardest to bring in a rock act). Our priority is to get a relevant, talented, fun artist who will perform well and satisfy campus demand – regardless of genre. With B.o.B, we saw those qualities and went for it.    

4. How do I buy tickets?

At www.umdtickets.com or the Stamp Ticket Office. Tickets are $8 for the UMD community (with a valid UMD ID) and $25 for non-UMD guests. 

As always, we appreciate the feedback (and the love)! We’re a student programming board here to make you happy, so please keep letting us know how we’re doing and how we can improve.