One attractive aspect of the UW-Madison campus is the Terrace at Memorial Union. It is a place for students relax with some friends, drink a pitcher and when the weather gets warm, enjoy a bit of music while the westerly breezes roll off Lake Mendota.
Perhaps many students don't realize UW-Madison is home to a group of students planning music events that are free and open to all ages. The Wisconsin Union Directorate Committee, comprised of approximately 150 members, is growing in size, variety of artists who perform as well as other advancements.
They work together to book and organize all musical shows at the Rathskellar, Terrace, Memorial Union's Great Hall, and Union Theater and Club 770 in Union South.
\I do it because I really love the committee,"" Music Committee Director and UW-Madison junior Stacey Lansing said. ""It's a great opportunity to meet bands and it's fun to be able to work with them and students on the committee. It's like a family.""
Every year, it spends approximately $130,000 of WUD's money and an additional $60,000 from co-sponsors, including the Rathskellar and ASM.
""It is known as one of the best student programming boards in the country,"" said Brian Jenks, the head of the Contemporary Issues Committee, one of the 11 committees that form the WUD programming board.
The WUD Music Committee has a long history of names and responsibilities to the campus. It was known as the Dance Committee until 1959, when the name was changed to the Social Committee. It continued until 1977 when the committee split into Memorial Union Music and Entertainment and Union South Music and Entertainment. This was true until the two names merged in 2000. This year, the committee changed to its current title.
It is divided into six sub committees by genres of music: indie and emo rock, rock, hip hop, punk/ska/metal/hardcore, jam and electronic, and volunteers are allowed and encouraged to join more than one of these committees. It also works with other campus groups, including the All-Campus Party, which is the week of events for students at the end of the spring semester, hosted by the Wisconsin Alumni Student Board.
""We always want different types of music that involves students and the community. We want to be really diverse and continue getting more diverse with bands that come here,"" UW-Madison freshman and committee member Lily Ferguson-Mahan said.
Part of the reason a variety of shows is necessary is because of the wide demographic the committee caters to.
""We're the only all-ages venue in Madison that gives free shows. We get great bands and everyone is so passionate about what they do,"" Lansing said.
Committee members learn the skills needed to pull shows together, including talking to performers' agents and organizing the actual shows. Before becoming a member, a volunteer must attend three meetings, help run two shows and attend training sessions, in which they learn how to book the acts. Once a member, they contact agents to find out which dates an act is available. If available, the committee member gets the date and a price back to the committee where they debate several aspects of the booking. Then, finally, vote yes or no.
The Committee is a great resource for students to get involved with the music scene in Madison and beyond, whether it is simply to get a friend's basement band booked or to get started in the music business.
""People do it because it's a good resource to come here with your favorite bands and soon you're talking to their agent. It's an exhilarating feeling having a show go off,"" Promotions Director and UW-Madison sophomore Danny Tenenbaum said.
Another way the committee is growing is its expansion into the printing field. If booking bands and seeing the show come together doesn't fulfill students' musical craving, perhaps writing for the group's magazine, The Emmie, will. The Emmie is a quarterly music magazine put out by UW-Madison student writers for the surrounding community.
""The unions need to be a place for students to hang around from morning to night and to bring people in late at night, there needs to be something there for them,"" Tenenbaum said.
The want for the unions to be a place for everyone, members say, is a primary reason why the committee will continue to expand.
