The dean of arts, media and communication gave a special presentation Tuesday to A.S. members about the Valley Performing Arts Center (VPAC) and addressed senators’ questions regarding parking restrictions, promotions and student ideas for program events.
Robert Bucker spoke about discounted tickets for students and the second beta test, which was conducted Monday night.
“Last night our second beta test was an opportunity to test the acoustical quality of the building,” Bucker said.
He added there were still a lot of construction issues to be completed.
A.S. President Conor Lansdale said the beta test was phenomenal.
“The whole audience was standing on their feet,” Lansdale said. “There were three standing ovations and two encore pieces.”
Bucker said one of the topics he thought A.S. would be interested in is the ticket policy and student discounts. He added there are four categories for ticket prices ranging from $15 in the lowest category to $70 in the highest category.
“Any student with a current CSUN ID purchasing tickets above the lowest ticket prices ($15-$25) would get a 40 percent reduction rate,” Bucker said.
Senate members also had the opportunity to ask questions regarding the VPAC.
Senator Jordan Lopez said he wanted to know about the G-3 structure not being accessible to students for future VPAC events.
“We worked really hard to get our events on the weekend,” Bucker said. “But there are exceptions like last night with the Moscow State Symphony (Orchestra).”
He added most of the events for the spring semester take place Saturday.
“It’s kind of like this field of dreams,” Bucker said. “If you build it they will come, but they will come only if it is accessible to them.”
Senator Cynthia Medrano questioned what kinds of promotions were on campus to get students to come to the performances.
“We have a brochure available on campus next week,” Bucker said. “We are on the campus home page and advertise in the Sundial.”
Bucker said he was aware that more students are using social media than reading newspapers, so they are also looking to promote through the web.
He added one of the challenges about getting students to come to the performances is that CSUN is a commuter school.
Queer Resource Center Update
During the open forum, LGBTA president Martel Okonji, 21, addressed the Senate with an update regarding LGBTA’s efforts to get a queer resource center on campus.
Okonji said Dr. Mark Stevens, director of University Counseling Services, Debra Hammond, executive director for the USU and Yolanda “Linda” Chassiakos, director and medical chief of staff for the Student Klotz Center, were all on board to have a queer resource center on campus.
He added Dr. William Watkins, vice president of student affairs and dean of students, helped him get the meeting with Chassiakos and said Hammond was looking into finding a temporary space for LGBTA to meet.
“We definitely have been pushing as hard as possible to make this happen as soon as possible,” Okonji said.
Medrano said she attended an unofficial meeting with LGBTA and the USU to get all the information needed to see how the queer resource center could benefit everyone. She added that there are currently negotiations about the USU offering a trial period for LGBTA to have a consistent space to meet because they move around.
“Currently, LGBTA has about 60 to 80 attendees,” Medrano said. “The trial period would measure how many people would show up…The main goal is to get the ball running.”
Okonji said the short-term goal is just to get a space. He added the long-term goal was to have a queer resource center on campus.
