This week on Chronversations: The college held its annual fundraising gala on Thursday, Dec. 6 in the Student Center. During the gala, different programs and student groups held activations, during which they simulated their work so donors could observe the experiences of Columbia students. Host Sydney Richardon talks to senior music business majors Hailey Carmean and Cali Castillo.

TRANSCRIPT:

0:07: Welcome to Chronicle Chronversations. 

 0:10: I’m your guest host, Sydney Richardson. 

 0:14: The college held its annual fundraising gala on Thursday in the Student Center. 

0:20: During the gala, different programs and student groups held activations during which they simulated their work, 

 0:28: so donors could observe the experiences of Columbia students. 

 0:33: Activation groups include fashion, game design, Shop Columbia and the Chronicle which simulated a newsroom setup with 12 students. 

 0:43: The gala is Columbia’s largest means of raising money for scholarships. 

 0:48: This year’s gala is fundraising for the Persistence Scholarships, which help students at risk of leaving the college due to financial need. 

 0:57: Last year, the gala raised over $700,000.  Students in the “Event Management: Practicum” course coordinated the event to showcase student work. 

 1:09: My name is Hailey Carmean. 

 1:10: I’m a senior this year and I’m a music business major with a talent management minor. 

 1:15: I’m with the business in South by Southwest Activation group. 

 1:18: So our group was kind of just showcasing what South by Southwest is and kind of what we do there. 

 1:23: So each room, we were in the third floor in the music rooms, and we just had each room kind of showcase each practicum class that goes to South by. 

 1:31: We had two artists: one that was a Columbia alumni and one that was a band and their manager is a Columbia student. 

 1:38: We kind of made it a game, so guests would come in, talk to each artist, pick which artist they wanted to be the manager of kind of and then they would go to each other room and kind of grow their artists and see how music business students like, manage artists. Kind of what we do in each class kind of thing. 

 1:55: So I was in the events practicum management class. 

 1:58: And so yeah, we kind of put all this together from scratch. 

 2:02: We started at the beginning of the semester and it kicked into full force pretty quickly. 

 2:07: I’d say that first month. 

 2:08: So like, pretty September-ish. 

 2:11: But yeah, we kind of just have been rolling since then until right before we started. 

2:27: I’m Cali Castillo. 

 2:18: I am a senior for a music business and my focus is in artist management. 

 2:25: I am with the South by Southwest Group. 

 2:30: So they invited myself and my artist Nicole Nicolalde to kind of speak on what it is to be a manager, a talent manager and what it is to be an artist. 

 2:45: So that was really interesting and that was really fun because we got to really go into detail about what kind of aspects and tools and skill sets that we’ve gotten from our classes and our majors. 

 3:03: At least for me, being a music business major, I was able to get a lot of information when it came to management and artist management. 

 3:18: And utilizing that for my artists is super important. 

 3:23: So I was offered this opportunity by Hailey who was a part of the class, the event management class. 

 3:34: And they wanted me to come in with one of my artists. 

 3:39: And I was like, OK, I have Nicole. Hailey had asked us to send over some photos that we would like to showcase for her as well as any links that would be appropriate for showcasing what we have done and what she has done as an artist. 

 3:59: So it was, I think it was well planned out for the most part. 

 4:05: But it was, it was nice to kind of come in and just be able to speak freely about where we started and how far we’ve come.

 4:16: And just really speak from the heart about what the passion is in for myself, management and for her, being an artist. I hope that these donors can understand that the things that we are doing as creatives is not just for our enjoyment. 

 4:35: But it’s also for their enjoyment and their kids’ enjoyment. 

 4:42: I’m Sydney Richardson. 

 4:44: Thanks for listening to Chronicle Chronversations. 

Copy edited by Trinity Balboa