Big Bridges Auditorium was only just over half full last Tuesday night when the Indigo girls performed in concert, causing surprise among administrators who were confident that the group would draw sellout crowds. Only 1357 seats in the 2400-seat theater were sold for Tuesday’s concert.

Associate Director of Smith Campus Center David K. Swenson, organizer of Tuesday’s event, said, "We expected to sell out, hands down. Now, we realize that maybe our expectation was faulty."

Many factors seemed to contribute to the poor attendance of the concert. The Indigo Girls were already playing two shows at the Wiltern Theater, thus decreasing the number of people coming from LA. The Wiltern, a bigger venue than Big Bridges, advertised far in advance, much sooner than Pomona did.

Some students felt that the Indigo Girls, whose audience is primarily female, alienated many male listeners, perhaps further contributing to Tuesday night’s poor turnout.

Nina El Shabrawy ’03, who bought a ticket, only to sell it shortly before the concert, observed, "I think the Indigo Girls play more to the female than the male population– and since there wasn’t that much publicity for [the concert], it doesn’t surprise me that not many people showed up." A native of Egypt, she added, "Americans go to lots of concerts, so they only bother going to concerts if it’s a group they really listen to."

Swenson said, "We understood that the core audience of Indigo Girls was mainly female. But we thought there would be a greater appreciation after the Lilith [Fair] and their new album. We thought there would be a wider campus appeal than there really was." However, he adds, "there was still a good student turnout–well over 800 students were there from the five colleges."

Because the ASPC’s program budget pays for events like the Indigo Girls, the ASPC office stresses that the school’s aim was not to make a profit on the concert. Rather, the budget allows them to choose programs that they feel students would like and that they think will be successful. Swenson states, "We never intend to make a profit–we just want to break even. We put on the concerts for the students–not for the money making aspects."

Pomona’s budget limit is not the total cost of the band, but how much they feel students will pay for tickets. Swenson said, "A lot of groups we know would have sell-out crowds-but they are not in our price ranges." He continued, "We don’t think students would want to pay $40 for a ticket–for example, the Dave Matthew’s Band would have cost $100,000–that is too much for this school to afford." The price of the Indigo Girls’ tickets were $35 for the public and $25 for students.

For the Indigo Girls concert, planning began as early as July. Then, Swenson and the ASPC office made the first contracts.

"Picking [an artist] is much more difficult than people realize." Swenson said. "We have to investigate what bands people want to see. That means talking to the senate and conducting student surveys. Only then can we get a picture of what types of bands people want."

Swenson cited three major factors affect which bands can actually come to Pomona: who is touring at the time, who is in the area and who is in Pomona’s price range.

"A lot of factors affect which bands can come to Claremont." But, he adds, "Because the Claremont colleges are so close to L.A, a lot of bands are in the area but many will not play such a small venue like Bridges when they could more likely draw bigger crowds closer into LA. When we have difficulty getting bands here, it is an issue of location– if you are in the middle of nowhere on route to somewhere that is heavily traveled by many bands."

There is also a struggle to find bands that are appropriate for the venue at which they are performing. Neil Gerard, Associate Dean of Students and Director of the Campus Center, said, "We look for bands that match the venue." He continued, pointing out that a band like Digital Underground, which performed two weeks ago in Harwood Court at Harwood Halloween, would not be appropriate for the more formal Bridges auditorium. "We want groups to perform in appropriate places." He adds, though, "Students have always wanted concerts and big names–it’s tough to get bands here."

In the future, Swenson hopes for more student involvement. "We’ll try to solicit more students to take part in the selection process," Swenson explained. "I think it may be time to start fresh again. We maybe need to research different markets."