As other universities begin to announce their spring concert lineups, organizers at Penn say that they are on the verge of finalizing this year's Spring Fling performers.
College senior and Social Planning and Events Committee Director Tom Kurland said that a finalized contract with an artist could be signed as early as the end of the week.
"We're in the final stages. ... We've chosen the artists, we're in close contact with them and we should be able to announce the lineup soon after spring break," Kurland said.
He noted that SPEC has not announced the artist prior to spring break in recent years and that they are ahead of schedule.
"That was one of our goals this year," Kurland said. "We want to know who it is, too. ... It gives us a little bit more flexibility if we get started earlier."
Kurland did confirm that the concert will "definitely" be held in Wynn Commons, which has the capacity to hold 2,500 people -- more than have attended the last few concerts.
Across the Ivy League, only Brown and Cornell universities have announced the lineups for spring concerts or festivals like Penn's Spring Fling.
Ben Folds, The Shins and Talib Kweli are among the artists that are confirmed to play at Brown's Spring Weekend.
Cornell has announced that Snoop Dogg will be headlining the school's annual Slope Day event, and another rap artist, The Game, will be opening for him.
"We initially thought [Snoop Dogg] would be a long shot, but we were very pleased to see that he was interested in coming to perform," said Cornell senior Steve Blake, president of the Slope Day Programming Board.
But Slope Day, a traditional Cornell festival held each year on the last day of classes, is not the only spring concert at Cornell. The Cornell Concert Commission has also secured Taking Back Sunday and Jimmy Eat World to perform in April.
Other schools seem to be in positions similar to Penn's in terms of announcing acts.
Yale University junior Andrew Cedar, president of the Yale College Council, said that the group has not officially booked an artist for the university's Spring Fling but are in negotiations with a few bands.
However, Yale University has raised the YCC's budget by $20,000 this year with donations from the president's office and the dean's office.
"We've had a lower budget than most other schools have had," said Cedar.
Harvard University's Undergraduate Council recently passed a proposal to commit $30,000 to the Harvard Concert Commission according to freshman Matt Greenfield, secretary of the Undergraduate Council.
As for Penn, Kurland said that SPEC Concerts will be spending approximately $70,000 on talent.
