‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ WhenTango Buenos Aires performed at Stony Brook University’s Staller Centeron Feb. 23, few of Stony Brook’s own students were there. For the Aprilperformance of Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, even fewer are expectedonce word gets out about the $36 tickets.
‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ TheStaller Center offers a considerable discount in ticket prices for Stony Brookstudents, but not many know about it. There are never more than a dozenstudents at a show, said Julie Rulon Greene, Staller Center’s coordinatorof marketing and public relations. Of more than 1,000 tickets sold for TangoBuenos Aires, only a handful were sold to students for discounted prices.
‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘?It’sa real stumbling block when students don’t find out about thediscount,’ Greene said. ‘?We want them to have the chance to see thevery best of culture, and most don’t bother to show up because they thinkthey can’t afford it.’
‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Itdoesn’t help that little is done to publicize the discount, which is halfthe price of regular tickets and can get students tickets for as low as $7 ifthey wait until 15 minutes before the show to buy them. Until recently, thebiggest form of publicity was a poster or two on bulletin boards in the StudentActivities Center and the Student Union, which usually got buried under otherposters within a couple of days. While new tactics are being applied, resultshave yet to be seen.
‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘?We’vestarted working with resident hall directors to get posters up in dorms,’said Patrick Kelly, Staller’s production manager. Publicity ishit-or-miss in busy places like the Union, Kelly said, because even large signsgo unnoticed, and not all students travel through the Union on a daily basis.
‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Thestudents who do know about the discount are trying to spread the word and comeup with new ways to advertise. ‘?Asking professors to make a quickannouncement in class about an upcoming show with information about the discountwould be great,’ said Jennifer Sardegna, a 21-year-old junior. ‘?Ithink it would make a huge difference.’
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‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Greenewelcomes suggestions like Sardegna’s, although she said some others areunrealistic. ‘?I know kids listen to radio stations like WBLI, butadvertising is so expensive,’ she said. Staller’s radio access islimited to WSHU, a National Public Radio station, and WUSB, Stony Brook’sown station.
‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Advertisingin the university’s newspapers doesn’t come cheap either, withhalf-page ads costing $165, and Staller can’t afford to spend that mucheach week, Greene said.
‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Greeneand Kelly are reaching out, but their message doesn’t seem to be gettingacross. ‘?It would help if they put slips in campus mailboxes,’ saidShaina Kohanzadeh, a 20-year-old sophomore who said she would have thoughttwice about skipping Tango Buenos Aires had she known she didn’t have tospend $32. ‘?I know they are trying to think of new ways, but for nowtheir hearts may be in the right places but the publicity isn’t.’
