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  MANDY CHAPMAN From left, Vu Dinh, Quyen Luu, and James Ngo rehearse Saturday for the Vietnamese Student Union culture night.

By Payam Mahram

Daily Bruin Contributor

Once a year, Royce Hall fills up with about 1,800 people who come to watch culture shows often unaware of the difficulties involved with planning such productions.

This year, many student groups, such as the Vietnamese Student Union and the Association of Chinese Americans, were disappointed with the dates available for them to book Royce Hall, where culture nights have traditionally been held.

Like anyone else, student groups must reserve the hall well in advance. In the past, groups like VSU and ACA have held their shows on weekends, but according to VSU Co-President Giang Nguyen, they are having problems this year with getting dates they once thought were confirmed.

VSU, which normally holds its culture night the first week of winter quarter, found out during winter break that the concert would take place eighth week instead. According to Nguyen, VSU had not signed anything confirming a date, and the date originally offered to them was not honored.

“We liked having our concert the weekend before Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday because it gave our out-of-town participants some extra time before getting back,” Nguyen said. “Having a concert during the first week of the quarter was also better timing for students.”

VSU had great difficulty getting students to come to all of the rehearsals this year because of midterms and other academic concerns that came up eighth week, Nguyen said.

According to Michael Wolf, production manager of UCLA performing arts, more student groups are booking events at Royce Hall this year than before. Consequently, groups may not receive their first-choice dates because of the higher demand for Royce.

He said priority for student group date consideration has not changed. Royce Hall has always been available first for the performing arts department, followed by others such as student, commencement and musical groups. The groups must sign a letter of agreement, which confirms a booking date.

ACA President Esther Tseng also encountered a date conflict.

“This year has seen a significant decline in preferential, if even acceptable, culture show dates,” Tseng said. “In the past, most if not all student groups holding culture shows in Royce Hall would be given Saturday nights.”

This year, ACA was assigned a Wednesday night for holding its concert and will probably be scheduled for a Monday next year. The date on which ACA wanted to book the hall was not available as a result of previous bookings by other parties.

“How is it that students are required to pay registration fees, yet the on-campus facilities which they fund cannot serve the students’ best interests?” Tseng asked.

ACA is working with groups like the Asian Pacific Coalition to meet with administrators to resolve some problems with culture night dates.

According to APC Chair Kei Nagao, the coalition has begun discussing this issue with Center for Student Programming advisors and administrators from the Center for Performing Arts.

APC has planned four more meetings with administrators from CSP and CPA, according to Nagao.

After booking Royce, the group and its concert organizers must raise funds to pay for the hall – a cost that makes up the majority of a show’s expenses.

“Culture nights cost an enormous amount of money, upwards of $20,000,” Tseng said. “Much of our funding comes from on-campus resources.”

The resources are allocated by the Undergraduate Students Association Programming Committee and the Campus Programs Committee.

According to Nguyen, VSU, which paid an estimated $16,000 this year for the hall, sought donations from the Vietnamese community, outside corporations, and friends and family.

Aside from fundraising issues and booking a location, organizers of culture nights also have to consider costumes, scripts, songs, dances and casting.

Costumes, which are considered early, may be bought, tailor-made or donated, and is usually determined by how much funding is available.

VSU members found the perfect set of authentic historical costumes by chance for their play, based on a 4,000-year-old legend, Nguyen said.

“We were very lucky to find someone who happened to have just what we needed,” she said. “We also got a great deal on them, getting them for about $950, well below what we could have spent.”

After finding costumes, choosing a theme and composing a performance, planners move on to casting.

“Tryouts for various aspects of the show took place in November,” said ACA concert co-producer Anwer Khan. “After a very competitive selection phase, each of the show’s aspects are practiced multiple times a week, increasing to every day closer to the concert date.”