By Michelle Tan

The programming staff at St. Cloud State University still plans to bring nationally renowned artists to campus despite losing $20,000 on a concert earlier this month.

While staff members consider it a setback, they and student government representatives refuse to let The Wallflowers' Dec. 1 concert discourage them from hiring popular groups. Just 1,700 tickets were sold out of more than 5,000 available.

Funding for concerts at St. Cloud State comes from a reserve account managed by the student government's fee allocation committee.

"It looks bad, I suppose, to have such an immediate loss, but we look at it to be more than just that," said Eric Wimberger, student government president. "We've made $20,000 from (other concerts). We pretty much break even."

Wimberger hopes the university's Feb. 7 Everclear concert will bring a profit. During the first weekend of sales, some 1,000 tickets were sold out of the 5,500 available.

National acts

Over the past three years, St. Cloud State has hosted six concerts, including Bush and Moby, Semisonic and two by The Wallflowers. The recent Wallflowers concert and one by John Michael Montgomery have produced losses.

Montgomery's concert resulted in a loss of about $40,000. Multiple Garth Brooks concerts in Minneapolis that took place about the same time could have been a factor. That loss has been made up, said Jessica Ostman, director of university programming.

Yet a Wallflowers performance at the Orpheum Theater in Minneapolis a week before coming to St. Cloud did not play a big role in the shortfall, Ostman said.

"We don't exclusively consider that a make-or-break factor," she said. "If they've played in the (Twin) Cities a bunch of times, it could've eaten up the market, but they haven't played in Minnesota for awhile."

Organizers had hoped The Wallflowers would've sold better, Ostman said.

"But no matter how much research we do, there's no guarantee that it'll be a success," she said. "This does not negatively affect any other program on campus."

Breaking even

The goal for each concert is to break even, Ostman said.

"If we make money, it's a padding for other concerts," she said. "We also want to venture into more diverse concerts, but we need to build that account first."

Money in the reserve account rolls over at the end of each fiscal year and consists mainly of profits or unused money, said Cindy Hayne, chair of the fee allocation committee.

This fiscal year, student activity fees and revenue generated from those fees will total about $6.3 million, Wimberger said.

"We try to keep the reserves consistent at 3 to 5 percent of that," Hayne said. "This is not a big hit. It's certainly something we want to make back in a real quick fashion, but overall we're doing real well."

The programming board wants to be fiscally responsible, Ostman said.

"We take this seriously, the students want it, it builds pride, and it's good for everybody," she said. "We've made the commitment to have these concerts, and if we make good choices, everything should work out."