Where Now For Entz In Oxford?
Only weeks after the Oxford Union decided to withdraw its termly ball, it has come to light, as reported this week on page three, that even college bops may soon be under threat, with some college parties put 'on probation' because of rowdiness and disruption.
This raises the question of whether Oxford entz themselves are under threat. Questioned about his decision to abandon the Hilary term Ball, Union Secretary Charlie Sparling explained that it had nothing to do with "how good we can make [these events], but it is more about what we are aiming for." He described previous Union Balls as "trying to strike a balance between 'alcopops and fun' and 'classy' events, but which ended up falling between the two" resulting in evenings which resembled "trumped up fresher's flings". Sparling stressed that this move did not herald an end to Union parties, only a redirection: "It's no secret that the last few balls didn't sell as well as we'd hoped. What this is, is a regrouping, so that we can decide what our members want out of their events. The Blenheim drinks night is a more sophisticated evening, in keeping with the mood of the term. We're trying to hold events that reflect what our members want from us." Charlotte Keenan though suggested that the competition from college balls was too strong for the Union and that her decision was not part of a general trend across the University.
Other Oxford events have stressed the need to strike a balance between the different aspects of University life. Kate Marten, organiser of last term's Merton ball, is enthusiastic about the experience: "I'm still obsessed by it now! I think you have to be if you really want to make any Oxford Ball a success. Our sales target was 600 tickets. We sold 622 and in addition, we had about 50 people working for us. I didn't think a cheaper ticket price was viable and would not have been prepared to chair a cheaper Ball." She went on to outline how the ball had been adapted to the desires of the students: "In the end we decided to go for fun, value-for-money, reputation and cheese factor - Chesney Hawkes. We also booked the DJ Sash! nearer the time (as ticket sales increased) to cater for different tastes." The event, which cost over £40,000 to set up, made a profit of £4,000 which Marten described as "more than we expected".
Last year's Revolution ball is apparently another success story in Oxford's long history of entz events, having raised between £25 and £30,000 for the Oxford Access Scheme and attended by around 3,000 students - about one in five of all Oxford students. Julian Ratcliffe, one of the event organisers, is pleased with the event's success: "We aimed to be completely different to regular balls - for a start we were much cheaper [tickets were £48], we had much better music including Mel B, Fabio and Grooverider, and Chesney Hawkes. Of all the balls on the night we had by far the most attendance. I think that to make a success out of a university wide ball like this the organisers would need to have a lot of sponsorship - we had the backing of a charity so we were able to raise a lot of money in sponsorship, and started our marketing in Michaelmas term. You need to be well underwritten".
However, students who attended the event complained at the poor provision of drinks and food on the night. One partygoer complained: "They ran out of food very, very quickly, the entertainment was average at best, disappointing at worst, and overall there was an atmosphere of reasonably resourced but rather haphazard fun. The food was dodgy - you had to queue for hours, and when you got there it was basically kebab van standard". The organisers dismiss such claims, however: "there were no major problems. We had some staff shortages, when some people who had bought working tickets cheaply didn't show up to their shifts, but we were able to carry on supplying drinks and food, not as quickly as we would have liked but it all worked."
The OUSU exec member responsible for the events portfolio, Rachael Logan, proposed two paths which OUSU could follow. "We can extend our joint partnerships with outside organisers, to stage club nights for students, as with 'Pop Ya Cherry'. Last year we staged the 'Divinity' event, where we had two floors playing student bands and professional DJ's. Less directly, we're hoping to set up an entz forum, where college entz reps and ball presidents can come to us and get advice and support for their events. We can't stage events in the same way that other students unions can, because we're handicapped by the lack of a Central Student Venue, unlike places like Oxford Brookes." It seems that popular as they may be, successful entz in Oxford are always a costly business.
<hr><h4>Entz in Oxford: Archive Articles</h4><ul> <li><a href="/00tt03/news9.htm">11th May 2000: Balls, balls, balls, balls, balls, balls...</a></li> <li><a href="/01ht05/feature4.htm">8th Feb 2001: Sealed with a kiss...</a></li> <li><a href="/01mt01/news/3/">4th Oct 2001: Revolution balls</a></li> <li><a href="/00mt01/news3.htm">5th Oct 2000: Balls-Up at Wadham</a></li> <li><a href="/01tt03/news/4/">3rd May 2001: Party Balls</a></li> <li><a href="/01tt03/life/2/">3rd May 2001: 'Tis the season</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.oxfordstudent.com/01ht04/news12.htm">1st Feb 2001: Battle of the Balls</a></li> </ul><h4>See also</h4><ul> <li><a href="http://www.ousu.org/current/goingout/balls.html">OUSU: College balls</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.oxfordrevolution.com/">Oxford Revolution</a></li> </ul>
24th Jan 2002