That's Entertainment

Kent Union 'Ents' Forum  

Chillin` in the 'student union' for a 'swift half' after a long day of lectures/ revising/ not a lot is not a new concept for students all over the country. Student Unions have often provided a bar as one of their services for students often offering a relaxing atmosphere which students can really have a sense of ownership over buy a reasonably priced beverage and enjoy some quality student focussed entertainment.

However, long gone may be the days where student unions can rely on healthy 'wet sales' of alcohol to prop up their finances and fund the kind of activities which cost money such as running our sports teams and societies or the Kent Union advice centre which sees over 4,600 students in need of advice.

Students just aren't big drinkers.... 78 cup beerpong?

Nowadays tax on alcohol is high and coupled with this, student unions individually and nationally through he NUS often have strict policies on responsible drinking even beyond the requirements of the law.  Supermarkets can mitigate against the tax levied on products because of the wide range of products that the provide. This means that there is a real change of culture in the way that students (and indeed society more widely) consume alcohol. 'Predrinking' or 'preloading' which is the practice of downing a few before heading out to party has had a serious toll on the 'spend per head' especially in the Venue and attic. Customers have already had as much as they want to drink before they arrive at the club which apart from creating issues with people being less than sober in the queues also means that people are drinking less in Union outlets.

I have my reservations about a system which increases the tax on alcohol in order to discourage (especially young) people from over-indulging. I think that the principle of a minimum price for a drink is also wrong. The strategy should be to encourage society to bring its drinking habits back into bars an pubs and to empower landlords to be able to operate responsibly and keep an eye on consumers. I would also propose that alcopops and other products which are targetted at young people but are cheap to produce and of low quality should be taxed the hardest and certainly not real ales, artisan ciders and wine where the main customers generally have a more mature attitude to the consumption and appreciation of the drink rather than 'getting smashed cheaply.'

Apart from this, the attitudes of students are changing generally. Coming to university is expensive and a lot of people don't want to get 'wasted' every night. This is even more the case with increasing numbers of international, postgraduate and mature students, this means that we need to be responsive to the needs and wants of students.          

Teetotal rave superstar "Crazy Hands" source of much
feedback at the forum. 

Three years ago at AGM a policy was passed to set-up an entertainments committee of students that would offer feedback to and be a liaison and working group with Kent Union licensed trade. Not much work was done on this over the two years that the policy was active but at the beginning of my term this year I really felt that there was a need for this group. Changing it from an elected 'committee' to an open 'forum' that any student could attend, students attending were offered free entry to the attic or venue every time they attended a meeting.... and they could bring a mate!

As will all new initiatives it got off to a bit of a bumpy start but by the end of the year there was a Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/309225215767462/ and regular meetings every other Thursday chaired by myself and often with a member of licenced trade present. Feedback ranged from the length of the queue times and service times to the quality of individual acts, the customer service, the price of drinks, the way the attic and venue operate as separate venues in a shared building to feedback on the Summer Ball, Keynestock and new nights such as Prism. There was also a lot of feedback about the implementation of our Zero Tolerance to sexual harassment and discrimination http://www.kentunion.co.uk/goingout/thevenue/zero/ as well as the difficulty of putting on student organised events in Kent Union outlets especially the Attic.

Based on feedback on the method of feedback, members of  the group felt that the process was positive and felt it particularly useful to hear the actions that had been taken based on the feedback given. I am particularly excited about the hiring of Renaud our new Venue manger an the recruitment of a new Entertainments manager who will be working closely with students in order to improve the range of nights as well as work more closely with student gro.

Below are some of the plans Kent Union have to improve the service at the Venue and Attic in particular and outlets in general.

"We are reviewing how people can get on a guest list and why. We want the process to be leaner, with more controls. We are thinking about a pass system for some people.

A Twitter wall as well as a text wall are part of the plans for next year. You should have both of them up and running by September. These were part of our requests sent to both sound and light suppliers we deal with. We are negotiating a new contract that should see the venue undergo a full make over on both sound and light and it should save Kent Union around £10 000 a year.

We are running simulations at the moment with next year’s budget and it is part of my plans to increase the amount of glass collectors employed each night to 2 on each floor.

Furthermore, glass collectors baskets have been ordered. This should enable glass collectors to collect more glasses quicker, hence keeping the floors and shelves clear of any rubbish.

This in turn should ensure that glasses are cleaned and returned to the bars quicker. Thus hopefully reducing the waiting time at the bars for our customers.

Heavy petting : Once again, this is subjective, subject to personal opinion and perception.

Couples are going to flirt and kiss. That is all too natural.

We need to ensure everyone abides to common rules of decency and do not cross the line. There should be no groping going on.

The feeling that there are more incidents at the Venue can be explained by the fact the Venue holds more people than other outlets on the campus.

When you multiply the people in one venue, you multiply the risks. This is simple mathematics.

Add to this the fact the premises are much bigger and slightly darker and it makes it the more difficult to detect misbehaviour.

Considering the average age of the people involved and the total weekly footfall, we can consider the Venue to be a pretty safe nightclub.

We will redraw the door team deployment plan to make it more effective, pre-emptive and reactive.

This should hopefully reduce the amount of bad behaviour in the venue accordingly.

Regards people drinking too much; this is part of our duty of care and  part of responsible licensing also.

We are drawing a training session for supervisors and bar staff. People who seem too drunk should not be served at the bar. This is against the law. End of story. Staff and supervisors will be trained accordingly.

Bar supervisors will spend more time behind the bar also, helping us all enforce the adequate policies and procedures in place.

Queues : We are trying to change the admission system used on the tills to speed up admission times. 

Furthermore, having that many people outside is a health and safety risk. And as people get frustrated, tempers flare and that may lead to an increased risk of fighting and other misbehaviour.

Yeah will not be continued next year, a new Friday night session will be organised.

However, regardless of the session attendance, we cannot vary door prices. Law dictates that we should display door prices at the door/admission desk and we can’t change or deviate from it.

Prism : Under review. A final decision will be taken once the new entertainment manager is hired and settled in

Summerball…

With such events, I am afraid we will not be able to please everyone. Every single one of us has different music taste and a favourite band/DJ. It is simply impossible to make every  people happy.

We have spent a substantial amount of money on entertainment this year and regardless of how much more we would spend, we would still upset some people.

A 1 hour DJ set can cost between £5000 and £15000.

One big name asks for £9000 per 30 minutes worth of performing…

A full band is more expensive.

If the artist has had a number 1 chart hit in the 6 months previous to the performance booked, you can expect prices to double.

What I can do is ask my staff and supervisors and you guys to give me a wish list for the acts next year and we will make our utmost to meet expectations… As long as expectations are realistic."

If you are interested in getting involved with the forum and want to offer your feeback next year, drop me an e-mail at Union-activities@kent.ac.uk