FlashFest is one of the biggest events that Kent State’s Undergraduate Student Government (USG) puts on, and this year they are bringing artist Key Glock to perform at the concert April 11. There are a lot of moving pieces and parts behind the scenes for major on-campus events like FlashFest.

USG is responsible for communicating student’s concerns or issues with university administration and acts as the voice of undergraduate students. 

The organization is divided into separate committees, which are responsible for different aspects of the group like governmental affairs and diversity. 

Brian Johnson is the Director of Programming, which entails overseeing all large-scale concerts, the guest speaker series as well as other smaller events throughout the year. 

“I’m working with our director of student involvement to kind of bridge all the different student organizations we have on campus,” he said.

Ariane Robinson, Vice Chair of Programming, maintains the communication between the director and committee members and helps with anything Johnson may need.

December:

The group works with a middle agent from a talent agency who sends them a list of available artists. From there, USG narrows down the options based on their budget for the year.

“I have my committee do research on each artist, like the amount of followers they have, how many streams they have on Spotify, their most notable songs, and we’ll see if anyone from the university that we know is following that person,” Johnson said.

January: 

USG continues to make a decision on the artist as well as the location. This year, FlashFest will be held in the Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center. The programming committee makes the final decision as a group.

“Although I’m the director, I still have a committee that I work very closely with and I value their opinion,” Johnson said.

February:

All details are finalized for the event and a contract is drafted and sent to the artist’s team. There are a lot of factors involving budget and availability for both the university and the artist.

“The hardest part definitely is trying to figure out what artist to get,” Robinson said. “The hardest thing is trying to match what students want to see, and then being realistic about what we can actually achieve because we only have so much money.”

March: 

The FlashFest artist was announced to students at the men’s basketball game March 2, and tickets started selling right after the announcement.

In the weeks leading up to the event, USG heavily focuses on the concert’s promotion and marketing mainly on their social media accounts, according to Robinson and Johnson. The organization wants to reach as many students as possible.

Last year, USG ran into an issue with students not being aware of the Mariah the Scientist concert so they had to give away the tickets for free to get people to attend, Robinson said.

April:

On the day of the event, the programming committee makes sure everything is set for the concert. They do things like check on the dressing rooms, make sure food orders have been placed, work with security and get ticket scanners ready.

“We’re kind of like the runaround team,” Johnson said.

Afterward, the group cleans up and leaves.

“After the concert, we take our little photo with the artist, they sign the flyer and then we’re kind of done for the night and it’s right onto the next event,” Robinson said.

Final preparations:

From deciding on the artist to working directly with the musician’s team, USG’s programming team puts a lot of effort into FlashFest.

“I think a lot of times people don’t realize that there is a lot of work that goes into planning for FlashFest,” Johnson said. “Regardless of whether you’re interested in the artist or not, you’re never going to find a $20 ticket anywhere.”

This year, USG is offering a guest ticket option for an additional $35 which allows a KSU student to bring a guest regardless of if they attend the university. 

“This is something that we’ve never done before, and we’re definitely excited and hope that with time, this will be something that can continue on,” Johnson said.

Angie Robinette is a reporter. You can contact her at [email protected].