The question of whether or not Keene State’s Social Activities Council (SAC) will be able to host their annual Spring Concert this year, which was seemingly left unresolved at the end of the last academic year, now has a definitive answer.
Unfortunately for those who were hoping to see the tradition continue, senior and SAC President Kerrin Shea confirmed that the organization will be unable to put on a concert this spring.
Shea explained that when the KSC Student Assembly met and approved budgets for student organizations in the Spring 2025 semester, SAC lost all of the funding it uses to organize the concert every year, effectively making it impossible for a Spring Concert to happen.
“The entire budget that we got was under what we need to put on a concert, and that’s if we held no other events,” said Shea. “To put on the concert last year, we spent about $110,000. This year, we only got budgeted for just a little bit under $89,000, so we physically can’t do it.”
Shea said that KSC Student Assembly ultimately decided to cut the Spring Concert budget for this year because they didn’t see it as an event that was important enough to justify its cost.
“Unfortunately, Student [Assembly] didn’t see it as a need for campus, and they didn’t see it as something that was more important for their money, so they chose to put their money elsewhere,” she said.
The loss of the Spring Concert is an especially difficult blow for SAC, Shea said, as it is one of the organization’s biggest events each year that students look forward to.
“It was really unfortunate for us because we, as an organization, work really hard to create the concert, and then we have 25 plus volunteers from different organizations or just students around campus who come because they want to see it happen and they work really hard for it,” said Shea. “It is expensive, but I feel like a Spring Concert is a Spring Concert. It’s one of those things that every campus has and that students look forward to going to, so it’s really unfortunate that they didn’t see the priority and the want in that.”
Even though SAC’s Spring Concert will not be happening this year, all hope may not be lost for a return of the event. Shea said that the organization remains hopeful that it could receive funding to host a Spring Concert again in future years if there is enough support from the student body. She said it is important that students support the concert in the event that it does come back, whether or not the headliner is their favorite artist.
“I think a big part of the problem last year is that Student [Assembly] didn’t see the want or the need from students,” said Shea. “At the end of the day, the reality is that not everyone on this campus is going to like the artist we pick. We can’t afford Kanye West. We can’t afford Sia. Those aren’t artists that are in our budgets. We have $40,000 to spend on an artist, you’re not getting a top name. I think a lot of students don’t see past that.”
Shea said the best way for students to help get the Spring Concert back in future years is to tell Student Assembly directly that they want to see it happen again.
“I think if people were to show up to those Student Assembly meetings and say, ‘No, this is actually something that we want to see, this is something that enriches campus and something that we are capable of doing,’ the more the merrier,” said Shea. “The more voices they hear, the better it is, because Student Assembly is there to do what the entirety of campus wants.”
“Unfortunately, I don’t think the concert will happen within the next couple of years,” Shea concluded. “I think that is something that has been completely written off and it’s really unfortunate for us, but we’re going to continue to fight. We’re going to continue to work for it.”
Despite the lack of Spring Concert this year, Shea said that SAC does still plan on hosting its annual multi-day Spring Fest event later in the semester, with a different undecided event replacing the concert that typically takes place on Spring Fest’s third day. Shea explained that SAC is just starting its planning process for the semester and that more details about upcoming events will be released when plans are finalized.
Justin Dearborn can be contacted at
jdearborn@kscequinox.com
