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| APPS ends 18th year, looks toward
bright future |
Michael
Lee
Entertainment Beat |
The Appalachian Popular
Programming Society (APPS) is closing in on its 20th birthday, and
things are still rolling along nicely.
In 1985, David L. Robertson, director of Student Programs, noticed
a lot of the students at Appalachian State University were leaving
for other colleges.
“Back in the early 80s App was losing lots of students,”
Robertson said. “The university hired a consulting firm to
talk to students who had left Appalachian. Almost all of the students
questioned said the same thing, that they loved the school, the
town, the people and mountains, but there was just nothing to do
socially and they were bored to death. You couldn’t even buy
a beer in Boone back then, and when the liquor laws changed in Blowing
Rock all of the clubs were forced to close their doors.”
To counter these problems the school purchased the building currently
known as Legends and opened APPS.
Appalachian now brings more live entertainment to campus than any
of the other 54 four-year colleges and universities in the state
of North Carolina.
“We tried to create a social life for the students,” Robertson
said. “We could have done all the booking of the bands, but
we trust the students to do that; they’re adults. They can
make their own decisions.”
For 18 years, the tradition has continued and it has remained an
important part of the school and the student body.
“It’s an organization made up of students that work together
to bring good and affordable entertainment to campus,” APPS
Public Relations Director Ashley Blackmon said.
Blackmon, a junior psychology major, has been with the organization
since her freshman year. She has been elected to be the president
of the organization next year.
APPS is made up of 250 student members that are divided among seven
councils: Stage Shows, Special Events, Club Shows, Concerts, App
Heritage, Concerts for Cultural Awareness and Films.
The seven councils are each headed by a chairperson.
The seven chairpersons along with the president, vice president,
secretary/treasurer and public relations director make up the executive
council, which governs the overall operations of the organization.
Every council is given a revenue goal by the university, which they
must meet before the year is out.
“The university sets these goals to make sure that we have
enough money for next year and to see whether we can do our jobs
or not,” senior English major Andrew Brown said. “That’s
why we have shows where you have to pay money.”
Brown has been a member of APPS for four years and is the chairperson
of the Films Council.
The majority of the money comes from student activity fees and the
rest of the money is from admission prices to the events.
The fees and the admission prices allow the organization to pay
for all of the booking, the advertising and any other expenses that
arise in the process of putting on the events.
“Say we reach our revenue goal by March, we can use the extra
money to put on other events for free,” APPS member and criminal
justice major Billy Morris said. “The money is given back to
the students once we reach our revenue goals.”
Morris was elected to be the vice president of APPS next year.
About three nights a week APPS has some sort of entertainment on
campus, and they organized over 100 events this year alone.
The organization has brought great bands like Widespread Panic,
Dave Matthews Band, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Coolio, Outkast,
Doc Watson and many others to Appalachian over the years.
They have also brought a huge number of blockbuster movies and independent
films to campus.
Everything has gone great this year and all of the councils have
reached their revenue goals.
“I have to say that in the four years that I have worked here
the organization and the people have been incredible,” Brown
said. “They have always done a better job each year, which
goes to show that they’ve got it organized. I’m gonna
miss everyone that’s here. I’ve spent more time here than
anywhere else.”
“I’d like to encourage people to join APPS,” Blackmon
said. “We always need fresh opinions and hard workers.” |
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