By Amanda Ventura • College Times Published: Tuesday, September 20, 2011 Updated: Wednesday, September 21, 2011 14:09
Courtesy Jack Shannon, GLOWfest
GLOWfest is coming further west than it ever has. Time to party.
According to the beacon of debauchery, Playboy, ASU is home to the bronze medalists of collegiate partying. While a C is nothing to brag about, it's certainly an improvement from recent years – so much so that film and media student Christopher Gallego sees no reason why we shouldn't mix class with some bass-driven booty shakin' in celebration of reclaiming the rankings.
Gallego, who is also the founder and president of ASU's Future Promoters of America club, reached out to the creators of the student-run festival GLOWfest, mustering enough interest in the student body that the festival decided to go further westward than it had since starting at Indiana University in April 2010.
ASU will be the third campus to host the fest, headlined by Avicii and Chiddy Bang per the outcome of a student poll. Gallego, who has been planning the show since May, talked to College Times about his labor of love and how the ticket sales have managed to give back to the student community.
College Times: Tell me a little about your club, Future Promoters of America. I had honestly never heard of that before now.
Gallego: I founded the FPA in 2009, my first year at ASU. The purpose of our club is to prepare students for careers [in] the entertainment and nightclub industries through event planning, production, and promotion. I just turned 28, so I've got a few years on most students, but when I was 19 I remember wanting to learn how to get into doing shows and concerts – I just didn't know where to begin. When I learned that ASU has a large student organization community with tons of special interests, I figured this would be a great way to mentor students and offer some guidance.
From what I understand, the fact that GLOWfest is coming to the Valley is solely your doing. How'd you find out about GLOWfest?
I stumbled upon the GLOWfest website at the beginning of the summer as I was researching college music festivals. I wanted to do something really big for ASU; we're the biggest college out there, enrollment-wise at least. I filled out the info request and got an immediate response from Jack Shannon, co-founder of GLOWfest. It turns out they were already looking into bringing the tour westward, so when they saw I went to ASU they were immediately engaged.
Why did you decide to bring this to ASU?
ASU once had a rep as being the biggest party school. Under President Crow, we've become a more reputable and respectable institution academically, and that's great. We have some of the best student entrepreneur programs and opportunities. Over the last few years, however, we've been rising in the party school standings. I think last year we [rose] back up to No. 3 [according to Playboy]. GLOWfest gives us a chance to demonstrate responsibly both of these facts about ASU; we work hard and play hard. GLOWfest began as a student venture out of Indiana University and now it's becoming a nationwide tour. We're even creating a pilot for a television series about our expansion. It's a successful business model, and ASU should feel proud that we're the jumping off point.
Why'd you decide to host it at Mesa Amphitheatre?
The University wasn't too receptive to having GLOWfest on campus, so we knew we had to find somewhere off-campus. None of the normal spots around town were big enough to fit an event of this caliber so we decided on the Mesa Amphitheatre.
Will there be shuttles for students to take to get to the event?
We aren't providing shuttles to this event, but are encouraging students to carpool or take cabs.
Campus organizations can sign on to sell tickets and in turn receive money from those sales. How many student organizations are involved?
While this opportunity is for every student organization on campus, we've got a lot of the fraternities jumping on board to raise money for their philanthropies. Kappa Alpha, for example, is raising money for the [Muscular Dystrophy Association]. The main GLOWfest office handles a lot of that work, but as of this point I'd say we have about 15 to 20 organizations on board. That's great for our first time, but when you consider ASU has over 700 student orgs registered, it's only a percentage of a point.
GLOWfest w/Avicci, Chiddy Bang, Cassette, Silver Medallion, Warm Brew, Mesa Amphitheatre, Sept. 22, 5 p.m., $35-$40