The Miscellany commends ViCE for inclusivity of Flaming Lips concert

Last Thursday Feb. 11, Vassar College Entertainment (ViCE) announced that their spring concert will feature the rock band The Flaming Lips. Although the concert is two months away, we must acknowledge that ViCE has outdone itself in planning its most ambitious entertainment event to date in the College's history.

The Miscellany News Editorial Board would like to consider especially the significant link that the concert has made between on-campus and off-campus communities. The April 17 Lips event will not be hosted in a campus venue, but will be located downtown in the Mid-Hudson Civic Center, a non-profit arena that has served the Poughkeepsie area as a concert and special-event venue for more than 20 years. Free shuttles on the day of the concert will give students easy access to explore the area around the Civic Center, something ViCE President Peter Denny '10 has called to "a night-time Meet Me in Poughkeepsie." Moreover, for the first time, the lion's share of tickets will be offered to the public instead of to just Vassar students, meaning that this concert experience will not be as exclusive as earlier events. Vassar students will nevertheless have priority in the ticket purchasing process.

All things considered, the spring concert serves as an essential opportunity to strengthen the often-adverse relationship between Vassar College and the wider local community. The concert will inspire students to look beyond campus for a night of dining and entertainment, and the collaboration with the Civic Center is a step towards what could become a more involved relationship. It is our hope that ViCE follows through on its decision to involve the community with similar events in the future. This concert has the potential to complement other arts events that have created time-honored links with the community, like Vassar Reperatory Dance Theater's annual gala at the Bardavon Opera House, and the Vassar studio art majors' art exhibition at various Poughkeepsie galleries.

We also commend ViCE on their choice of artist, The Flaming Lips. A common criticism of the organization is that their taste in music is elitist, inaccessible and "hipster," as the organization has regularly brought indie and unconventional acts to campus. While The Flaming Lips are not exactly a household name, the Grammy-winning band has achieved a level of mainstream international success that surpasses the likes of previous acts such as Clipse, Deerhunter and Grizzly Bear. 

Considering the financial impossibility of bringing a Billboard chart-topping artist to Vassar, ViCE has made a sound compromise between mainstream and independent music with their decision to bring The Flaming Lips. For skeptics who haven't heard of them, the band's polished pop music directly contrasts with the unorthodox ambience of Deerhunter and Clipse's unconventionally dark hip-hop, and promises to make for a highly accessible show. Even if the music fails to please, the band's notorious onstage antics will surely entertain. ViCE has ultimately done well to heed its critics by bringing an act with relative mainstream recognition and conventional sound, while staying within its budgetary limitations. ViCE weekly open meetings may have contributed to this popular choice, since they encourage all students to share their suggestions for incoming bands.

ViCE's spring concert is not without flaws— a point that should be duly noted. While many past concerts sponsored by the organization have been free, Vassar students will have to pay a discounted price of $18 in order to get tickets for The Flaming Lips' concert. It is understandable that bringing such a band to campus is expensive, and admittedly $18 per ticket is a remarkable deal considering that the band's other concerts cost well over that amount. It is nevertheless much to ask of students to pay money for concerts in addition to the student activities fee that comprises the Vassar Student Association' s budget, a large amount of which goes towards ViCE's funding. It is also unfair that students who cannot afford the expense will not be able to experience ViCE's most ambitious and promising endeavor to date.  Free programming meant that there was equal opportunity to experience the world-class music; it is a shame that it had to be sacrificed in order to make this concert possible. It should also be noted that, despite what many students often misunderstand, the activities fee would not have been able to have been used to prevent layoffs or alleviate budgetary constraints in other areas of the College—the fee comes from a isolated sector of budgeting and would not have been able to have been used for purposes other than student programming. But, perhaps we all, including ViCE, should be sensitive to how a costly concert looks in these difficult times.

Although the expense is extensive, the concert's community-orientation along with the accessibility and mainstream fame of the artist promises to make this a landmark event in ViCE's history. We applaud the organization's ambition, and hope that they will continue moving in the direction they have gone with this exciting concert.

—The Staff Editorial reflects the opinion of at least two-thirds of the 21-member Editorial Board.