Spring Break
Admissions fee policy successful for clubs
by Miranda Neubauer
Senior Writer
News | 11/25/08
Posted online at 4:37 AM EST on 11/25/08
Clubs began requesting more money last semester because of the pilot program, he said. "There was definitely a spike in spring 2008 as compared to the past, and that's because club leaders started realizing they should request everything they need from Finance Board, and Finance Board will fully fund it to the best of their ability." Funding requests this semester have been consistent with requests last semester, Wallach explained, because clubs are charging less for their events and thus need more money to finance the event.
This semester, the theater group Brandeis Players charged admission fees of $3 for their play The House of Blue Leaves.
Samuel Negin '09, treasurer of the club, said the policy change had not affected audiences dramatically but had impacted how the group paid for expenses. "We've started asking F-Board for a lot more money than we used to," he said. "Once upon a time we would get $1,000 out of them and have to do the rest of the fundraising ourselves for a $ 2,500 budget, and now we get all of it from F-Board."
Last semester the group requested and received $2077.50 when it performed Squabbles with free admission. This semester the group requested $5,274.78 and received $4,200.
While last semester's policy provided the group with more money, he explained, "the benefit of being able to charge for tickets is that the theater fee is based on the number of people who come."
"[When] those people aren't paying admission, we still have to pay a fee based on their having shown up, so if we can charge for it, they're effectively subsidizing their own entrance fee," Negin said. According to the Shapiro Theater rental guidelines, any event charging entrance fees up to $10 must pay $1 per each seat sold.
Hold Thy Peace, a group that produces Shakespeare plays, still offered free admission this semester. "[The policy] definitely does cut down on revenues, but it increased audience size, which is probably the more valuable of the two, and since we ask for donations, we recoup some of the missing ticket sales," group treasurer Phoebe Roberts '09 said. She said the group made the decision not to charge entrance fees this semester to increase the size of the audience independently of last semester's policy.
This semester, the theater group Brandeis Players charged admission fees of $3 for their play The House of Blue Leaves.
Samuel Negin '09, treasurer of the club, said the policy change had not affected audiences dramatically but had impacted how the group paid for expenses. "We've started asking F-Board for a lot more money than we used to," he said. "Once upon a time we would get $1,000 out of them and have to do the rest of the fundraising ourselves for a $ 2,500 budget, and now we get all of it from F-Board."
Last semester the group requested and received $2077.50 when it performed Squabbles with free admission. This semester the group requested $5,274.78 and received $4,200.
While last semester's policy provided the group with more money, he explained, "the benefit of being able to charge for tickets is that the theater fee is based on the number of people who come."
"[When] those people aren't paying admission, we still have to pay a fee based on their having shown up, so if we can charge for it, they're effectively subsidizing their own entrance fee," Negin said. According to the Shapiro Theater rental guidelines, any event charging entrance fees up to $10 must pay $1 per each seat sold.
Hold Thy Peace, a group that produces Shakespeare plays, still offered free admission this semester. "[The policy] definitely does cut down on revenues, but it increased audience size, which is probably the more valuable of the two, and since we ask for donations, we recoup some of the missing ticket sales," group treasurer Phoebe Roberts '09 said. She said the group made the decision not to charge entrance fees this semester to increase the size of the audience independently of last semester's policy.
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