Grad Ball 2018
Katherine Pedersen submitted on
Friday 11th May 2018
Complete
I would like to know why the grad ball tickets are £45. I can't think of a single club that I've been to where I've paid anywhere close to this for entry and I live in London when not at uni.
Does the ticket include something other than entry? If not I would like to know if SUSU makes a profit from grad ball and why an event specifically for students has a higher entry price than any other club I know.
Thank you for your time.
Answers
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Steve Gore submitted on
Wednesday 30th May 2018
Complete
Hi Katherine, Thanks for getting in touch.
Since Flora Noble currently has a backlog of You Make Change submissions this has fallen to me to answer in the meantime. We have received a number of questions regarding the ticket price of Grad Ball, and Flora has been directing many to her main response here: susu.org/you-make-change/788.
The revenue from ticket sales goes entirely on the running of the event which mainly comprises of the variety of music acts and attractions as well as the materials and equipment used in the decorating and setup of the venue and staff time (including bar staff, tech team, security etc.). Flora has listed the attractions that will be at Grad Ball in her previous response that I linked earlier. As you can appreciate, Grad Ball is a massive one-off event with many big name music acts at multiple stages hosted in a building that was not designed to be a club venue, which means that we have to put a lot of time and money into transforming the Union building. Grad Ball is more similar to a music festival like Soundclash or Common People where you would be paying ~£40 for a ticket rather than a regular club night in town with house DJ's.
The Union makes no profit on Grad Ball. Last year's Grad Ball was hosted in the Union building at £40 per ticket and we made a financial loss on it, effectively subsidising the event. This year's price of £45 is designed to better reflect the actual cost of planning in order to keep the event sustainable.
Flora and the Grad Ball committee are in charge of strategic and budgetary decisions for the event, so if you have any further questions I would recommend contacting her at pres@susu.org, or coming in to the Union building speak to her in person during office hours.
Best wishes,
Steve Gore, VP Sports
