With less than two weeks until kick-off, this year's All Campus Party aims to integrate diversity with music-headliner Common and liven its events with something other than alcohol.
It really is unique, especially coming the week before Mifflin,\ said Nick Osiecki, UW-Madison junior and party co-director. ""[ACP] is intended to be a counter to Mifflin and a counter to the drinking culture that has been so prominent at UW-Madison … since as long we can remember.""
The Wisconsin Alumni Association and the Wisconsin Alumni Student Board collaborate each year to put on the free party that pledges to bring students and their organizations together to celebrate a ""love for UW,"" according to the party's website.
ACP started out as a fledgling idea, Osiecki said. Over the five years of the party's existence, he said the growth has increased exponentially.
This year will ""put the ‘party' back into All Campus Party,"" with the addition of Club Bucky, a dance party held at Madison Avenue, 624 Universtiy Ave., with one of Chicago's premier DJs Osiecki said.
Osiecki said the owner of Madison Avenue has been cooperative, helping to promote the counter-culture of non-drinking events out there.""
Since ACP gets some of its funding from the Office of the Chancellor and Associated Students of Madison, the party must be alcohol-free.
The Multicultural Student Coalition is working jointly with ACP and WASB to continue incorporating Plan 2008 —the initiative to diversify campus —into the party, said MCSC member and UW-Madison senior Katrina Flores.
MCSC was instrumental in inviting musical artist Common, who Flores said would attract a wide variety of students. Additionally, it has helped an array of student organizations sign up for ACP's list of events and seek out funding.
""The name is a little confusing,"" she said of ACP. ""[There is] an educational component, so it's not just a party.""
The money ACP received from ASM came as an event grant, with a total award of $20,557.03, according to Joe Steele, a UW-Madison senior in charge of the party's sponsorship. ""[It] represents just under 10 percent of our total operating budget.""
In addition to ASM, Steele said the party committee seeks out sponsors in the Madison area to meet the total cost of this year's party, which stands at roughly $220,000, Steele said.
As the party expands year-to-year, the committee not only reaches out to a wider variety of sponsors, but also keeps striving to meet its goal ""to literally attract all of campus,"" Osiecki said.\
