Spring Groovefest

I went to a Groovefest planning meeting tonight for information on the biennial concert which is scheduled for April 27th (the day after the Norman Music Festival). For those of you who don't know, Groovefest was started in 1986 by Oklahoma Amnesty International! We had a table up at last fall's concert, but other than that we have been conspicuously absent for three or for years. Everyone was really excited that OU-AI was ready to be a part of Groovefest once again.

Groovefest needs a lot of help, and I think we are in a position to help make it happen. Quite simply, Groovefest needs time and money. I'm going to check tomorrow to see what kind of funds we have left in our UOSA account; there's a possibility we might be able to co-sponsor Groovefest. This is going to be a pretty sizeable commitment, but I think we can do it. We could also apply for emergency funding through UOSA, or obtain additional funds from the CAC Speaker's Bureau and Concert Bureau. We will also be contacting Adiyah Ali, our regional AI-USA coordinator, to see about the possibility of getting funds from the regional or national AI offices.

There are two questions that I will be trying to answer this week:
1) If Groovefest is co-sponsored by Oklahoma Amnesty International (that's us), would the University's insurance coverage for events extend to Groovefest? This may not sound like much, but we would be saving Groovefest about $500 for event insurance. However, that leads me to question
2) If Groovefest is co-sponsored by OU-AI, is it subject to the same rules/restrictions as a University-sponsored event? For example, would all vendors have to sell Coca-Cola products? Would Groovefest be alcohol-free? Could we only use the money for things like printing/tabling materials, or could we spend it on things that are necessary to make Groovefest run (like the thousands of permits, sound equipment, etc.)?

We will be having our next informal meeting in conjunction with the Groovefest planning meeting. I will have more information on that sometime soon. Thanks!

-Will O'Donnell