SUBCOMMITTEES MUSIC IS LOVE Music is Love have had packed year, with events across a much wider range of genres. Their runaway success was Mungo’s Hi-Fi – a reggae sound system, which rattled Venue 1 and surprised their sell-out crowd with a new sound. They have formed a key part of our entertainment lineup, while also managing an overflowing lineup of open mic nights, free ‘music cafes’ during Freshers’ and On The Rocks, a gig in the Botanic Gardens and a Festive Bash. STAR (ST ANDREWS RADIO) With 96 shows broadcasting, fourteen hours a day and seven days a week, STAR is one of our biggest sub-committees and best avenues for student development, with many going on to careers in journalism. Highlights of the year included their offbeat events and their live election results broadcast. Listenership has increased, and STAR have big plans going forwards to expand into video broadcast when rehomed in their new media suite. DESIGN TEAM A small team with disproportionate talent, Design Team has kept up with the ever-increasing demand for publicity from our affiliated societies. Expanding with both new software and hardware, Design Team also trialled a PR Team to focus on creative marketing for Union events. Design Team have also had input through SSC consultations for new branding, bringing trained student eyes to the proposals. ENTS CREW Every single event in the Union – totalling around 100 nights – is run by our student volunteer tech crew, normally taking about seven hours per night. This includes all society events, as well as those run by the DoES, meaning it spans from the Bop to Catwalks. Ranging from special effects to routine maintenance, the crew put together a fantastic Freshers’ and have been resilient in the redevelopment – they’ve bailed the Union out from a few tight spots or even tighter turnarounds. While always delighted by a new ‘toy’ to play with, it is easy to underestimate how complicated this kit is and how impressive and professional the crew has been. This year, Ents Crew spent £1000 on a professional sound training course, bought new industry-standard DJ decks and handled the 15-day run of events in Refreshers and RAG (plus academic commitments).
25 des ign projec comple ts ted in semest er 1
One of our En ts achiev ed the 500 SALTIR -hour Ea volunt ward for eering on one ye ar!
ENTERTAINMENTS The Entertainments lineup was varied and packed this year, although due to redevelopment (as well as increased competition in town), overall attendance has been down. Dance nights are still popular – the Bop focuses on chart music and is where we’ve seen the most trade fall off. However, Sinners Sports with the AU has still been incredibly popular with eight busy nights. Rewind has been our newly launched brand and a huge hit, and very popular with a loyal group of students who like S Club, Steps, ABBA, and everything cheesy. Not only does it mean we got to strip the ‘cheese’ out of the Bop, but it also means we could develop a real brand and explore fun acts like the ABBA Tribute. Pricing was kept affordable: this year we ran a very popular £1 Week, reduced the price of the Bop to £2, and kept every event in Refreshers under £5. More varied nights including a sell-out Roller Disco, Silent Disco, Itchy Feet, and free crazy golf rounded out our entertainment lineup. We have continued offer the biggest and best events in town. Our student groups have also hosted a range of off-site events – including Christmas, Big Top, and Glitterthemed balls. Theatre remains a consistent part of our lineup, with eight productions in Venue 1. Despite juggling with bar space, it has been incredibly important to keep the venue available for theatre due to the closure of the Byre and the overwhelming demand for Barron Theatre space. Comedy has joined in, with student-run Bubble Bath and Late Night Pillow Fight. This year has seen Venue 1 turned into a boxing ring, a laser tag arena, a Catwalk, a big screen for Eurovision and also, of course, the Building Site Bar. A big priority of the year has been to protect student groups from the disruption and continue to support their ambitious range of events. It’s not been the easiest year to get people into the building and into events, but we have had a long list of sell-out events as well as number of awkwardly quiet ones. It’s been a real shame we haven’t had the consistency, but this is very much why Venue 1 is being split into two during the redevelopment due to the fact the Union no longer holds an event monopoly.
COMMERCIAL SERVICES Our Commercial Services are being completely overhauled by the redevelopment, meaning there is disruption for some and exciting new spaces for others. Every pound raised by our commercial services goes straight back into supporting our charitable activities. BARS Our bars have stood up well to the disruption. This year we worked on bar branding and introduced a new cocktail range, as well as catering for some of the biggest events in town. We ran a ‘One Last Shot’ publicity campaign about the closure of the Main Bar and the last chance to get a drink at a favourite spot for students, before introducing the Building Site Bar in Venue 1 – a smaller space build with projector screens, a repainted Beer Bar, sofas and pool tables. The space proved popular, although the demands of big events mean it got moved around more than hoped, unfortunately disrupting plans to make more of the projector screens and for pool. This was very much because as we were treated to not only retaining use of Venue 2 during second semester, but also with its new glazing giving fantastic views down Market Street. To make the most of these spaces, we launched our ‘Caution: Falling Drinks Prices’ price cuts, which were intended as clear and meaningful ‘thank you for your patience’ to our customers who had put up with portaloos and various obstacles to come in for a drink. Tennents returned to £1.99, and our bars remained busy despite the largest space closing. YOUR SHOP Formerly BESS, the shop began their year working out of the old travel office on the first floor of the Union – not a prime retail location. That said, trade was steady and then finally the big day came where they moved into their new space at the front of the building. A bigger space, meaning the chance to buy in more stock, means sales have risen. The shop is first and foremost a student shop, and stationery and cards as much a part of that as our crested hoodies. It’s a new shop with the same great value.
RECTOR’S CAFÉ The runaway success of Rector’s was overseen by our new Commercial Manager, Tony. Focusing on a quality social space, students have loved its late opening hours, great-tasting coffee and the look of the space – showcased by its glass front. Rector’s offers the sort of social space key to the Union and sets the tone for the new spaces going forwards. It was so popular in its first few weeks we had to order more furniture! THE BARRON THEATRE The Barron Theatre (formerly Crawford Arts Centre) is our 54-seat, black box theatre on North Street. Now run entirely by student volunteers, the Barron is normally used for over ten hours a day for Mermaids rehearsals, auditions and shows; as well as more broadly by student groups for exhibitions, life drawing, gigs and film screenings. The Barron is opened and closed by five student keyholders; who also book, administrate, clean, tidy, maintain the theatre space, as well as running the box office, organising the costumes, investing in props, and developing the technical equipment. Over the past three years, Mermaids and the Barron’s own fund as invested over £12,000 in the space, including a specialist projector, new dimmer racks for lighting, a digital lighting control system, new LED fixtures, new inter-changeable flats, a tagging system for a costume inventory and a beautifully repainted foyer – with more plans on the way. Since its transfer to being student-run, the Barron has proved to be run effectively, meaning it has entered the Association’s Laws as a venue and we are moving to further increase staff support for the space. It has proved to be incredibly valuable given the closure of the Byre and the limitations on Union space.
YEAR BY THE NUMBERS