By Taylor Edwards
On Saturday, acclaimed folk rock singer Samuel Beam, better known as Iron & Wine, will headline at Abilene’s historic Paramount Theatre. Though he is one of the most well-known artists to play at the venue, this particular show is unique for another reason – one perhaps more relevant to students than his musical talent alone.
In conjunction with the Campus Activities Board, the Students’ Association purchased 129 tickets to give to students.
Executive Secretary Melanie Wheeler said SA had been looking for an opportunity to sponsor an event in which students could actively participate, and the Iron & Wine concert seemed like an ideal choice.
“I know that in the past people have seen the SA as kind of distant, and we wanted to get involved with the student body again with tangible results,” said Wheeler, junior political science and history major from Abilene.
When SA heard about the opportunity, Vice President Tony Godfrey and several other students came up with a proposal and presented a bill to Congress, which debated the plan and in the end decided to allocate money to the giveaway.
“We had a lot of student support at that meeting; over 30 students attended,” said Godfrey, junior political science and English major from Burleson.
SA spent a total of $1750 on the tickets, and the Campus Activities Board provided the remaining $550.
A week later, SA created a plan to give out the tickets. In order to win, students had to either follow SA on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook. The goal was to open a channel of communication between SA and the student body and to use that channel to effectively reach students – in this case, to give out tickets.
“The key there is that we’ve built that relationship with the student one-on-one where we can constantly be given feedback about what we’re doing, what it is we’re about to do, and people can see it in real time,” Godfrey said.
Before SA announced the ticket giveaway, SA’s Twitter account, @ACUstudents, had about 25 followers, and their Facebook page had about 275 fans. As of Wednesday, @ACUstudents has 162 followers, and the Facebook page has 647 fans.
When Godfrey sent out updates about the location of remaining front row tickets, students who were following them could instantly respond.
A tweet sent out Jan. 19 read, “Find your pair of front row Iron & Wine tickets by this ACU fixture? (Is it a fish, or hands??)”
The next tweet let students know the tickets had been claimed and encouraged students to keep playing.
“Wow. Already found by Jordan Lowe. You guys are on top of it. Giving away more front row pairs tomorrow. Scavenger hunt meets hide and seek.”
The 1,200 seats at the Paramount sold out around Jan. 1, said Paramount’s executive director Betty Hukill.
“We’ve had phone calls from Oklahoma, Louisiana, New Mexico and all over Texas – people are coming in from out of town,” she said.
Because the show is completely sold out, the SA giveaway was the only way for many students to get tickets.
“I was so excited when I saw the email,” said Katie Stumbo, freshman art major from Naples, Fla. “I love Iron & Wine, and when I heard they were coming, I really wanted to get tickets. I think that this was a great way for SA to reach out to students.”
SA said despite some negative feedback, most students had an incredibly positive reaction to the ticket giveaway.
“We see it as something to enable and empower students to do whatever it is they’re passionate about, and for a lot of students that’s music and the arts,” Godfrey said. “Any event that gets students together and builds community that they can attend together as a unit is something that I think that SA needs to be supporting.”
