FAQ
Q. What does the SAPB Stand for?
A. SAPB stands for the Student Association Programming Board
Q.What is the role of The SAPB on campus?
A. SAPB serves as the primary programming board of the Student Association. The Student Association is the larger entity that houses and funds several student centered activities such as student organizations, businesses etc. Find more about the SA here.
Q. What Is The Difference Between The SAPB And The SA?
A. SAPB is the primary programming branch of the Student Association. It serves as a sub-organization of the larger SA and is not an entirely separate entity. The SA’s Vice President For Programming serves as the chair of this board.
Q. How Can I Go About Contacting The SAPB?
A. You can contact specific committee contacts on our Committees page. If you are unable to find the information you need, feel free to email: vpp@binghamtonsa.org
Q. Where Is The Best Place To Find Information About SAPB Events?
A. There are many places you can find out about SAPB Events, from Campus Groups to Flyers to our campus-wide SA-Line Emails. If you’re looking to get the first scoop about artist or event announcements be sure to follow us on our social media accounts found on our Home page!
Q. How much do events cost?
A. Generally events will be free and most of them are. In the event that we do charge for tickets we will specifically advertise the charges and\or associated fees.
Q. Are Events Open To Non-Binghamton Students?
A. Most of our events are open to all, however, we do attempt to prioritize Undergraduate students getting first access to our events. For that reason, our primary advertising and subsequent ticket sales are made to Undergraduate Students first. While we do want to see graduate students and the rest of the Binghamton community at our events, we do have primarily serve the Undergraduate students who pay the activity fee that makes these events possible each semester.
Q. How do I get special accessibility accommodations to an event?
A. Yes! We are certainly willing to work with you on any arrangements you may need to attend our events. We do ask that you email vpp@binghamtonsa.org within 3-5 days of the scheduled event or simply as soon as you are able and aware.
Q. How is the SAPB funded?
A. SAPB is funded through an allocation from the Student Association’s Activity fee each semester. SAPB receives a specific portion of this fee per student and uses it to fund and plan our events.
Q. What Are Some Events The SAPB Plans?
A. Check out our Past Events tab to see some of the events we have planned in the past!
Q. How Do I Request An Event, Performer, or Speaker?
A. Every semester SAPB releases a survey filled with a set of speakers, event ideas, and artists for students to vote on. While we do compile a list of individuals for students to vote on, we do also provide an opportunity for students to submit their own recommendations directly to us! We take this survey very seriously and encourage all students to participate in this process.
Q. Why can’t we afford to bring bigger-name artists or speakers to our school?
A. While, we do aim to bring the biggest and best names to campus, we do have to acknowledge the limitations with our budget. With the many events we put on each year, these expenses are more costly than students may realize. It is always our goal to make as many students happy as possible, and we’re always trying to improve this process.
Q. Who is in SAPB?
A. SAPB is comprised of 18 leaders and a great number of members! Led by the SA Vice President For Programming, SAPB is divided into several Chairs, Vice Chairs and directors. To see who they are currently, refer to our Board page.
Q.How do I get involved?
A. You can get involved in a couple different ways! You can start by emailing the specific committee chair you are interested in getting involved in. You can also follow us on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook. You can also join us at any General Body Meeting or specified Committee Meetings throughout the semester.
Q. Are there any membership requirements?
A. Yes! While you are allowed to volunteer at any level, in order to become a recognized SAPB member, you need to fulfill 4 requirements:
To Be A Member:
Attend 1 Committee Meeting of Your Preferred Committee
Work\Help Out at 1 Event
Attend a Social Event\SAPB Workshop [GBM’s Count]
Attend 1 Additional Committee Meeting (besides your preferred one).
To Be A Volunteer:
Help out at any events you’d like to, whenever you’d like to!
At the end of each semester, we will make this information public on Campus Groups.
Q. How do you create events?
A. Each committee in SAPB is responsible for particular events throughout the year. That committee team along with the SA Vice President For Programming plans all the details for events and work towards making these events a success. SAPB works with several administrators and staff to execute different levels of programming throughout the semester.
Q. Why can’t you save money by cancelling other small events in order to bring bigger artists/comedians/lectures to Binghamton University?
A. SAPB is dedicated to diverse programming in many different forms. From our festivals, to comedy shows, concerts and speakers etc, SAPB’s main goal is to provide students different areas of recreational, educational and insightful events to enjoy. As such, we do need to reasonably dedicate our resources to support all events!
Q. Can we use a bigger location for concerts that fits more students?
A. While we do acknowledge that utilizing a venue such as The Downtown Arena could fit more students than the Events Center, we also recognize that the Events Center is on campus and provides a central location for students. Every year and every show we take the venue and location into account and have found that the Events Center provides ease of travel by being a location that both on and off-campus students can access through OCCT and has enough allocated capacity for each event that is held. Each year we evaluate the success of our events and are always willing to consider ways to improve.
Q. Why can’t we bring our bags into the venue?
A. Per security policies, bags aren’t permitted into the venue in order to prevent a potential security risk to our attendees.
Q. How do you select artists for a show?
A. There are many components and stages that are a part of the artist selection process. Below is a general overview of what the selection process looks like:
End of May: Develop and send Fall Concert Survey
Summer: Analyze survey results and bid for artists
End of August: Artists should be confirmed by the beginning of the semester, contract negotiations begin
3-4 weeks before show: Once contracts are finalized or generally finalized, begin advancing with artists
Day of Show: Fall Concert Woo!
December: Evaluate successes and failures of fall concert, develop and send Spring Fling Survey
Winter Break: Analyze survey results and bid for artists
February: Artists should be confirmed around this time, contract negotiations begin
Mid-April: Begin advancing with artists for Spring Fling show
1st weekend of May: Spring Fling!
Q. How do you decide on the genre of the concert? What about smaller genre representation?
A. When deciding on the genre for our concerts, we focus on the student survey responses, look at what artists the students are drawn towards, and work towards attaining these artists. Historically, the genre that receives the majority of votes is Hip Hop/Rap. However, we do acknowledge having other genre representation is essential to having the best overall concert experience. This is why we attempt to diversify the stage with openers and other artists etc. While this is not always possible, we do attempt to accomplish outside of the artists in our mainstage lineups through Binghamton Undergrounds Music Presents (BUMP) shows, student performances at both our Battle of the Bands talent competition and on the Spring Fling student stage and mainstage. Our goal is always to try and diversify our artist's lineup in order to appeal to as large of a fan base as we can.
Q. The floor is not full at the concerts, why aren't we allowed down?
A. Before each show, we meet with the University Police Department and Events Staff to establish the capacity for our concerts. These numbers are based on the level of staffing and safety regulations. While we always advocate for the best balance of floor and general admission tickets, we must stay within these parameters of the number capacity that is set for each ticket type in order to run the show.