Programming Board cancels Jumbo Jam due to budget restrictions

Facing budget restrictions from the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate, Tufts Concert Board canceled its annual spring Jumbo Jam concert, which traditionally features lesser-known artists than Spring Fling and Cage Rage, to prevent cuts to Spring Fling funding.
Programming Board, the umbrella organization for Concert Board, did not have enough money to allocate to Concert Board events, Office for Campus Life Assistant Director David McGraw said.
"Our budget is fixed on just Cage Rage, Battle of the Bands and Spring Fling," Concert Board co-chair Julia Stein said. "This year they cut funding for [all of Programming Board], and rather than cutting into Spring Fling, we decided to cut Jumbo Jam to focus on making Spring Fling as great as it possibly could be."
To make up for the budget shortfalls, McGraw and Concert Board said they were hoping to recuperate funds from tickets to Cage Rage.
"We were hoping this year to get enough revenue off of Cage Rage to go ahead and have a Jumbo Jam either way," McGraw said. "However that event didn't generate revenue beyond what we anticipated."
McGraw said Jumbo Jam was the most obvious event to cancel due to its lower popularity in the past.
"Senate came back and said 'You're requesting too much money, we have to figure out places to cut back,'" he added. "So looking at events to pull money from, sadly to say Jumbo Jam has not been as successful."
Concert Board co-chair Mark Bernardo said he agreed that Jumbo Jam has not been one of the more popular events in the past.
"Traditionally, Jumbo Jam is more of an indie-acoustic show, and not as many people are into that so it's hard in terms of publicity," he said.
This is not the first time Jumbo Jam has been cut for budgetary reasons, with similar circumstances leading to its cancellation in spring 2011. It seemed like the best event to cut, according to McGraw.
"A great example was last year when [Jumbo Jam] was in Cohen [Auditorium]," McGraw said. "The rough cost of the event was just under $20,000, but we had about 50 students show up."
Concert Board's budget is mostly allocated toward acquiring musical acts for events. It usually spends roughly $30,000 on bands for Cage Rage, $15,000 for Jumbo Jam and $100,000 for talent at Spring Fling, according to McGraw.
After a surplus last year allowed for a $150,000 Spring Fling budget, Stein felt that preserving a high budget for this year's event would be best.
"Having that extra buffer is important for getting the artist," she said.
Concert Board had initially planned on announcing this year's Spring Fling line-up at Jumbo Jam but is now reconsidering how to notify students.
"It'll be some time in late March or early April, possibly at Battle of the Bands," Bernardo said.