Fling in the making: SPEC preps for the coveted weekend

In the midst of chilling winter weather and potentially the first real snowstorm of the year, Spring Fling seems like an eternity away. But for some students, Fling has been on their agendas for months.

Spring Fling is an annual tradition that, with the exception of final exams, is the only thing all Penn students experience together. For one weekend in April, all of Penn comes together for a few days of music, carnival attraction and, for many, some ethanol-heavy partying. But one thing that is often overlooked amidst the day parties and star-studded performances is the work that goes into making the entire event possible. Approximately 50 undergraduate students plan the massive weekend-long event — from the concert to the food vendors for the quad.

While Fling itself is still far away, the planning is not. At this point in the year, the Fling and concert directors of the Social Planning and Events Committee have decided on the theme and logo for the weekend and have known who will headline the concert for about a month and a half.

Wharton senior George Li is one of the Spring Fling directors. Along with the other Fling directors and members of the SPEC Spring Fling Committee — a total of about 15 people — Li started thinking about Fling last fall.

“First semester, it’s really just about getting to know each other. We also might start talking about the theme and logo for that year,” Li said. “This year, we wanted to get started on things a little earlier,” he added, saying that they have had the theme and logo for Fling designed since the beginning of the calendar year. Last year, SPEC released the theme and logo during the last week of January.

This year, however, the process will be a little bit different. “In past years, we haven’t done a great job of hyping up the theme, so we’re trying to change that this year,” Li said, adding that the theme and logo will be announced through a video the Spring Fling directors are currently working on. “People can look for that announcement sometime either the week before spring break or the week after,” Li said.

Students will have to wait to get news about the concert, too. College senior Suvadip Choudhury is one of SPEC’s three concert directors, responsible for organizing both the fall concert and the Fling concert.

“At this point, we are finishing securing the lineup for the concert, which will be on April 17,” Choudhury said. “We are locking in all of our artists for the show, but this has been an ongoing process,” he said, adding that the search for Fling headliners began as early as October of last year.

While Choudhury did not specify the genre of the performer for Fling, he did say that a survey SPEC Concerts launched a few months ago, which received about 1,500 responses, defined the direction of the concert.

“One common misconception that students seem to have is that we reach out to artists directly about coming to Fling,” Choudhury said. “At first, we reach out to large booking agencies with our budget and date, and then they give us an idea of artists that could work. Sometimes we follow up about artists they didn’t mention if we know there is significant interest on campus.”

SPEC’s budget for Fling talent this year is $180,000, according to the UA’s budget, with an additional $250,000 earmarked for “Production” costs associated with the concert. While ticket sales last year grossed about $230,000, this year anticipates $300,000 in revenue.

While Choudhury said that at this point, the Concert Directors have more or less known who the Fling headliner will be, the opener is not set in stone. “We still need to secure the lineup, because the headliner technically gets approval rights for the opener,” he said.

But while the concert lineup is nearing completion, students will have to wait to find out who will be performing. “Campus can expect to find out the opener just before spring break, but will have to wait until after for the headliner,” Choudhury said.

College junior Emma Edoga is also a Spring Fling director. While Li has focused more on creating the theme and logo for this year’s Fling, Edoga has worked more closely with vendors that will be in the Quadrangle and at the carnival outside College Hall.

“In the fall, I’m sending out dates to previous and potential vendors to let them know that Fling is happening,” Edoga said. “At the beginning of spring semester, I start sending out applications, and we will select the final vendors from there.” Previous vendors have included Magic Carpet, Chipotle, Little Baby’s Ice Cream, Capogiro Gelato and Pat’s Cheesesteaks.

While the vendors may not be as much of a closely guarded secret as the theme or the concert lineup, Edoga still has her hands full. “There’s a lot on my plate at once,” she said. “I just hope I can remember everything and get everything done.”

The UA’s budget indicates how much more there is to Fling than the performances. In addition to the more than $400,000 SPEC will spend on the concert, SPEC will dish out an additional $150,000 on Fling proper — from the attractions in the Quad, to the carnival, to security during the day.

The Fling and concert directors may be in charge of organizing and delegating a lot of the tasks that go into Fling, but they certainly are not alone.

College sophomore Gabriela Rodriguez is a member of the SPEC Film and SPEC Concerts committees. As a general member of SPEC concerts, she does not know who will headline the concert yet, but she plays an important role in the organization of the concert itself. “As a member, I’ve only been able to brainstorm ideas for the announcement so far,” she said, adding she will be applying to board positions for SPEC Concerts this semester.

College sophomore and SPEC social chair Mark Paraskevas has had a similar experience. As social chair, Paraskevas’s job focuses on organizing events and cultivating a sense of community within SPEC as well as things like marketing, ticketing and social media for the concert. Like Rodriguez, Paraskevas is also waiting on news about the Fling performers. “Only the directors know who the headliner will be at this point,” he said.

But regardless of knowledge of the performers or theme in advance, everyone in SPEC now has one thing on their mind — how to get people pumped for Fling.

“There’s a definite sense of anticipation right now,” Choudhury said. “Now that we’re in the stage of finalizing the lineup, we’re focusing on marketing and getting everyone on campus excited about it.”

Rodriguez echoed this sentiment. “It seems like although it’s a huge event on campus, it’s still very important to promote it to give it a sense of coherence and to give each Fling a discernable brand,” she said. “A lot more marketing goes into it than most people would think.”

For College and Engineering freshman William Archer, the hype surrounding Fling is working. “[My] biggest expectation is just how great it’s going to be. Everyone talks about how it’s a three-day crazy-packed adventure that everyone goes all out for,” he said. “I’m really looking forward to hanging out with all my friends with relatively low stress and getting to see all the Fling tanks and people embarrassing themselves and hopefully the concert too.”

While Fling will be fun for everybody, it is a more unique — and perhaps more special — experience for those who make it possible.

“The best part about this job is just looking forward to the day of and getting to see everything come together,” Li said. “When you’re not running around putting out little fires that come up here and there, you might get a break, and you have a few minutes to just take everything in.”

Choudhury agreed. “There’s this really small group of people who put on this great, amazing event,” he said. “It’s a lot of work, but it really is very rewarding.”

As Fling approaches, Choudhury hopes to continue to build up this excitement. Students may not be hearing the name of the concert headliner anytime soon, but “we’re excited for people to know,” he said. “We hope they’re excited as we are.”

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