By Brenda Machado
Staff Writer
This year the theater at IU South Bend is raising its ticket prices, including student tickets. Now, the average ticket price has been bumped up to $5 for students instead of being completely free.
Marvin Curtis, dean of the Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts at IU South Bend, explained that there a few reasons why the prices have gone up. The biggest reason is that the Student Government Association (SGA) has not yet given them funding for this year.
“In prior years, they [SGA] supplied us with funding to cover the expenses of free student tickets,” said Neil King, media and community outreach for the Raclin School of the Arts.
This year, the SGA and Raclin School of the Arts hope to work together further on funding. The lack of funding was not intentional.
Though the lack of funding initially prompted the implementation of the fee, the fee had been coming. The $5 cost was determined to help cover labor hours and material costs that go into productions and concerts.
The costs of everything else related to theater has gone up. Raising ticket prices is the best and simplest way for the theater to gain more money and cover overall costs.
This also ensures that students have a reason to show up, as the tickets are no longer free and hopefully will come to fill the seats.
Despite this change, Curtis encourages students to continue coming to performances. Some of the offerings will still be free for students, and using your CrimsonCard can provide a discount for other shows. IU South Bend provides tickets much cheaper than other schools and as Curtis put it, “It’s much cheaper than a coffee from Starbucks.”
