After an extensive process using students’ suggestions and collaboration with East Coast Entertainment, the Geist chapter of Mortar Board at Longwood University chose to bring Hot Chelle Rae as the headliner for Oktoberfest 2023.
“I just may give some advice and guidance, but it’s really up to the students as to who they want to bring,” Susan Sullivan, assistant dean and director of the university center and student activities and Mortar Board advisor, said.
The process to book performers started at last year’s Spring Weekend, where students suggested artists they wanted to see through Google Forms. The Google Form was at Mortar Board’s Spring Weekend booth, and posted online for around two weeks, open for students’ input. Sullivan stated that approximately 300 students responded to the Google Form for Oktoberfest this year.
The students that serve on Mortar Board then sent the list of suggestions to East Coast Entertainment, a full-service entertainment agency with an office located in Richmond, Virgina. An agent at East Coast Entertainment looked at the list and determined which were viable options depending on price range and the artists’ tour schedules.
The agent that works with Longwood, Mason Owen, then sent the list of potential artists back to Mortar Board. The Mortar Board Main Stage Co-Chairs, Jake Keely and Madison Glattfelder-Quizon, narrowed down the list farther to approximately 20 artists. They then brought the list to the other current members of Mortar Board and voted to rank their top six options. Sullivan, Glattfelder-Quizon, and Keely then submitted bids.
Since members of Mortar Board reveal the artists at the involvement fair, Glattfelder-Quizon and Keely try to solidify the headliner over the summer. Once the headliner was solidified, Mortar Board worked to decide on openers from the same list of artists the student body requested. According to Sullivan, they tried to represent a variety of genres with the artists that perform that day.
This year the openers included Three Sheets to the Wind, a yacht rock band, Kevin MaC & The Homies, a country variety band, and Dylan Sinclair, an R&B singer/songwriter. Sullivan said, “They never please everybody. I will tell you that. They try. They do their best, but we’re working with a certain budget and with that certain budget, there is certain types of artists that we can bring.”
According to Sullivan, the budget for the bands at Oktoberfest this year was $55,000, which has not changed in recent years. The headliner gets between $20,000 and $30,000. The rest is divided among the other artists.
Owen has worked with other colleges and universities in the area as well, including Hampden-Sydney College, Washington and Lee University, and Randolph-Macon College. The process to book entertainment at these schools is very similar to how Longwood’s Mortar Board works with Owen.
Lancer Productions follows this exact same process when planning Spring Weekend. Owen said the process to book artists for Oktoberfest starts the day of Spring Weekend and vice versa. He met with Lancer Productions for the first time this year on the day of Oktoberfest.
This year’s headliner, Hot Chelle Rae, had previously headlined WMLU 91.3’s Bandfest, part of Spring Weekend in 2021. However, the performance that year was virtual due to COVID-19. Glattfelder-Quizon said she and Keely considered that many current students may have not watched the virtual show. They also thought that Hot Chelle Rae would have more songs that the students would know and they’d be different from the country and rap artists they’d chosen in previous years.
Sullivan does not hear much feedback from students about the artists the Mortar Board chairs chose.
“The students probably hear more than I do,” Sullivan said. “I was there all day, Saturday, and it seemed like there was a good crowd for the headliners and the students seemed to really enjoy it.” Sullivan stated that around 500 to 600 students attended the headliner on Saturday.
