Ball tickets fail to sell
This year’s YUSU Summer Ball has failed to sell out despite a new format and an increased budget. Of the 2,500 tickets available, over 450 after dinner ball tickets and over 60 Graduation Dinner tickets remain to be sold.
The Summer Ball, a departure from previous years’ Grad Balls, is open to first and second years as well as graduating students. The Ball is costing £100,000 and features a fairground and casino, with Sara Cox presenting performances from Goldie Lookin’ Chain and Bjorn Again.
This year the Summer Ball has been scheduled the day before Derwent’s popular Big D Carnival. However, Students’ Union Services and Finance Officer Nat Thwaites-McGowan claims this has not had an effect on ticket sales for the Summer Ball. “Students actually have a lot more money than we thought and can afford tickets for both events.”
First year Langwith student Jessica Sinclar Taylor disagrees. “The Summer Ball’s too expensive and Big D just sounds like more fun. I’ll go to the graduation dinner in my final year but just I can’t be bothered now.”
Thwaites-McGowan attributes the Summer Ball’s failure to sell out on the increased number of tickets this year, stating, “they’re actually selling at a much faster rate this week than they have been. We’ve sold 1, 065 for dinner, and we normally sell about 1,100.” However, despite the recent increase in ticket sales, it has not yet broken even.
Despite admitting that he had received “a mixed feedback” on opening the event up to first and second year students, and that “a lot of people weren’t happy about it,” Thwaites-McGowan believes that the separate Graduation Dinner and the increased amount of money spent on this year’s ball, which has been put into improved fairground rides and a chocolate fountain “has pacified them.”
The SU Summer Ball is not the only end of year event having experienced problems with ticket sales. Langwith College’s Summer Ball was forced to downsize its venue from 200 to 120 maximum capacity, eventually only selling 80 tickets.
Langwith Chair, Lucy Wickham, felt that the proximity of the event to the AU Ball and Big D had affected ticket sales: “it’s always difficult selling ball tickets at the end of term, no one’s got any money left,” but maintained that the Langwith Ball “was a successful event” and broke even.
