No Money for Music

It’s the one universal thing everyone can understand: music. It’s also one of the first things to go when budgets get cut.

As a transfer student to The Evergreen State College last fall, I had high hopes for the music scene. Since K Records Company is based in Olympia and has signed musicians such as Beck, Modest Mouse and Bikini Kill, the Puget Sound has gained a respectable reputation in the music industry.  Olympia can be considered one of the centers of the post-hardcore and anti-folk genres, and even the “riot grrrl” movement back in the 1990s. If only there was a time machine to hop into and experience what Olympia used to be.

I’m an Olympia native, 21 years in the making, and I hear older locals describe the good ol’ days when Nirvana (an unknown at the time) played their first gigs at Evergreen. Kurt even smashed his first guitar at a Halloween dorm party in 1988. Not to mention the front-woman of Bikini Kill and Le Tigre, Kathleen Hanna, wandered through the halls of Evergreen. This is only the tip of the Olympia Music History iceberg, but I won’t get any deeper.

From my experience and others I’ve talked to, Olympia is lacking in live music events. There are a few, such as Music in the Park during the summer, and the occasional folk artists playing in taverns or coffeehouses. We have two venues downtown that could easily accommodate a larger show: the Capitol Theater and the Washington Center for Performing Arts. Yet they seem to be limited to theatre performances and film showings, with the sporadic musical concert squeezed in. This leaves one large venue available to utilize: The Evergreen State College.

With multiple locations on campus, such as Red Square, the Performing Arts Center in the Communications building, and even the Library Lobby, Evergreen would be perfect to host musical events, just as they did in the past.

For thirty years TESC had been used as the location of Super Saturday. This event, held on the same weekend of June every year, had live music, as well as local vendors of arts and crafts, food, and more. Fifteen to twenty thousand community members would attend this free event yearly. In 2009, the school made the decision to retire Super Saturday due to the rising expense of around $20,000 annually.

The main cause of the declining musical events on campus and the canceling of events such as Super Saturday are budget cuts and lack of funding. Things can’t be free anymore in this economy, which is a sad, but true. When I have ventured to other schools and attended music events or festivals, there were fees. We had to purchase tickets to be admitted. Now this may turn away many people from events, but it is the only way to be able to have them.

Maybe instead of doing away with events in general, a cover could be charged for people in attendance. For example, Super Saturday had 15,000 to 20,000 people attend, and the expense was $20,000 for each year. If each person paid $4 to attend, the expenses would be covered and there would even be revenue. Evergreen wants to continue to have low-cost community events, and in my opinion $4 to attend an all-day festival filled with music, art, and food, sounds like a good deal.

The history of music in Olympia intertwines with the history of music events at Evergreen. College campuses are vital venues for struggling artists trying to get their break. We should try to bring back some of the musical glory found in the archives of TESC, even if it means paying a few dollars.