Admission charges

[James Ellis]

Wim directed his question to techs at major state schools.  Although my
work was with a smaller private school, and that was years ago, I'll
respond anyway.

There are opposing factors here.  If you charge admission, no matter how
little the amount, it takes the event out of one category, and places it
into another.  The P.R. factor of a faculty recital may be more significant
for a smaller college than for a major state university.  Carson-Newman,
enrollment about 2400, with a very strong music department, never to my
knowledge charged admission for faculty recitals, but the P.R. was a big +
for them.  This obviously did not apply to guest artists.  Those required
ticket purchases.

I have attended many faculty recitals at the University of Tennessee,
Knoxville, definitely a "major state school", but there was never an
admission charge.  Again, this did not apply to guest artists.  The P.R.
factor, even for a major university, was the objective.  I don't know what
their policy is now.  I don't attend those any more.  The reason I don't is
that parking anywhere near the U.T. recital hall has become a virtual
impossibility.

Someone mentioned donations for scholarships.  You might give some thought
to this, especially if they come in the form of checks, and the
contributors can deduct it from their income taxes.  If you did this, there
would be no admission charge.  It would just be a platform to make a pitch
for the scholarship fund, and you might get some tidy sums this way.  Just
a thought, and I'm not sure how well it would work.

Athletic events are something else entirely.  The U.T.K. stadiun seats
108000, the tickets cost plenty, and it's full for most football games.
Musical events can't compete with that.

Jim Ellis, Oak Ridge, TN.