Royce demand crowds out groups

  MANDY CHAPMAN From left, Vu Dinh,
Quyen Luu, and James Ngo rehearse
Saturday for the Vietnamese Student Union culture night.

By Payam Mahram
Daily Bruin Contributor

Once a year, Royce Hall fills up with about 1,800 people who
come to watch culture shows often unaware of the difficulties
involved with planning such productions.

This year, many student groups, such as the Vietnamese Student
Union and the Association of Chinese Americans, were disappointed
with the dates available for them to book Royce Hall, where culture
nights have traditionally been held.

Like anyone else, student groups must reserve the hall well in
advance. In the past, groups like VSU and ACA have held their shows
on weekends, but according to VSU Co-President Giang Nguyen, they
are having problems this year with getting dates they once thought
were confirmed.

VSU, which normally holds its culture night the first week of
winter quarter, found out during winter break that the concert
would take place eighth week instead. According to Nguyen, VSU had
not signed anything confirming a date, and the date originally
offered to them was not honored.

“We liked having our concert the weekend before Martin
Luther King, Jr.’s birthday because it gave our out-of-town
participants some extra time before getting back,” Nguyen
said. “Having a concert during the first week of the quarter
was also better timing for students.”

VSU had great difficulty getting students to come to all of the
rehearsals this year because of midterms and other academic
concerns that came up eighth week, Nguyen said.

According to Michael Wolf, production manager of UCLA performing
arts, more student groups are booking events at Royce Hall this
year than before. Consequently, groups may not receive their
first-choice dates because of the higher demand for Royce.

He said priority for student group date consideration has not
changed. Royce Hall has always been available first for the
performing arts department, followed by others such as student,
commencement and musical groups. The groups must sign a letter of
agreement, which confirms a booking date.

ACA President Esther Tseng also encountered a date conflict.

“This year has seen a significant decline in preferential,
if even acceptable, culture show dates,” Tseng said.
“In the past, most if not all student groups holding culture
shows in Royce Hall would be given Saturday nights.”

This year, ACA was assigned a Wednesday night for holding its
concert and will probably be scheduled for a Monday next year. The
date on which ACA wanted to book the hall was not available as a
result of previous bookings by other parties.

“How is it that students are required to pay registration
fees, yet the on-campus facilities which they fund cannot serve the
students’ best interests?” Tseng asked.

ACA is working with groups like the Asian Pacific Coalition to
meet with administrators to resolve some problems with culture
night dates.

According to APC Chair Kei Nagao, the coalition has begun
discussing this issue with Center for Student Programming advisors
and administrators from the Center for Performing Arts.

APC has planned four more meetings with administrators from CSP
and CPA, according to Nagao.

After booking Royce, the group and its concert organizers must
raise funds to pay for the hall ““ a cost that makes up the
majority of a show’s expenses.

“Culture nights cost an enormous amount of money, upwards
of $20,000,” Tseng said. “Much of our funding comes
from on-campus resources.”

The resources are allocated by the Undergraduate Students
Association Programming Committee and the Campus Programs
Committee.

According to Nguyen, VSU, which paid an estimated $16,000 this
year for the hall, sought donations from the Vietnamese community,
outside corporations, and friends and family.

Aside from fundraising issues and booking a location, organizers
of culture nights also have to consider costumes, scripts, songs,
dances and casting.

Costumes, which are considered early, may be bought, tailor-made
or donated, and is usually determined by how much funding is
available.

VSU members found the perfect set of authentic historical
costumes by chance for their play, based on a 4,000-year-old
legend, Nguyen said.

“We were very lucky to find someone who happened to have
just what we needed,” she said. “We also got a great
deal on them, getting them for about $950, well below what we could
have spent.”

After finding costumes, choosing a theme and composing a
performance, planners move on to casting.

“Tryouts for various aspects of the show took place in
November,” said ACA concert co-producer Anwer Khan.
“After a very competitive selection phase, each of the
show’s aspects are practiced multiple times a week,
increasing to every day closer to the concert date.”