about the concert planning assignment

The Concert Planning Assignment has three primary goals:

• for students to design print and online advertising for Reggie Harris and Alastair Moock’s concert
• to plan, schedule, and make real any logistical needs
• build on skills learned in prior COM and other courses

The assignment is informed by three Course Objectives:

Objective 1. Communication Technologies
Students will develop and enhance their use of various communication technologies for the purpose of creating media objects with specific rhetorical goals and for specific audiences.

Objective 4: Reflection
Students will develop their understanding of the important role of reflection during the reading, creation, and communication process.

Objective 5: Experimentation
Students will know what it feels like to step out of their comfort zones and take risks with their approaches to and understanding of protest and social justice themed music.

Concert Planning Assignment Specifics (updated 9/21/22)

On Monday, October 3, two internationally known folk musicians, Reggie Harris and Alastair Moock, will be joining us in class to talk about the power, legacy, and continued importance of protest music and music on social justice themes.

Also, on October 3, at 7:30 in the Perch, they will be performing a university-wide concert based on their Race and Song: A Musical Conversation program (adjusted for a college audience). Mark your calendars now; concert attendance is mandatory. And everyone in class is required to bring at least one person.

The event is sponsored by The Beautiful Social Research Collaborative, The Department of Communication and Media Studies, The Department of Sociology, The Office of Center for Inclusion and Diversity. Others may be added to this list.

To complete this assignment, students will be broken into 4 groups.

Group 1: Logistics (3 students)
One group will be responsible for the logistics of all aspects of their visit, including but not limited to:

• meal locations (or delivery for Oct 3), times, and signup sheets for students in class to sign up to join them
  • Dinner, Sunday Oct 2
  • Lunch, Monday Oct 3 before class
  • Dinner, Monday, Oct 3 before the concert
• posting the event to uni calendar
• posting the event to the Campion monitors
• coordinating with The Perch to ensure necessary equipment will be available
  • project and screen
  • we need to find what equipment they have, such as mics, amps, etc.
• coordinating with any club, group, or division social media to post our graphics to their account
• reaching out to university divisions to advertise the event
• reaching out to the newspaper to get an ad or article in the paper the Thursday prior and an article about it after
• reaching out to the radio station to see if they want to air it live and promote it
• reaching out to university divisions, including student orgs, to see if they can sponsor the event
• determining any thank you gifts
• composing and getting the class to sign thank you cards
• anything else you think we should do that Bill hasn’t thought of

Students who volunteer to work on Logistics should be detail-oriented and enjoy scheduling stuff.

Logistics Due Dates
Please create a calendar spreadsheet/document in which you prioritize when things need to be completed, what you need to from Bill, and what you need from the groups. Expect the final designs to be shared with you on Thursday, 9/22.

Groups 2 – 4: Design (4 students each)
Each of Groups 2, 3, and 4 will be responsible for creating a unique adverting series for the concert in the form of:

• 11 x 17 full-color poster
• 8.5 x 11 full-color poster
• 8.5 x 11 black and white poster
• 24 x 36 foam board poster
• up to 5 social media graphics

Each group will determine the design aesthetic for their advertising series. The designs from each group do not need to overlap.

Each design should have the necessary information so viewers know who the artists are and details about the event and its sponsors.

The posters MUST be created using Adobe products. The graphics can be created using Canva. Final file format should be posters should be PDF. Final file format for social media should be .PNG.

You can find artist bios and photographs on their websites, which are linked above.

Students who volunteer to work on the designs should have an interest in design. At least one person in each group will need to know how to use Photoshop, InDesign, and/or Illustrator.

Add the #raceandsong hashtag.

(Please save all sketches and design drafts, as this series could potentially form a design case study for your portfolio.)

Design Due Dates
9/14: Design Draft 1 Due in Class
9/21: Design Draft 2 Due in Class
9/21: Final Poster Designs Shared with Bill by 11:00pm

Submission Info
Bill will be sharing with the class a GoogleFolder named “Reggie and Alastair Materials.” Please upload PDF versions of your final poster designs with the following naming convention:

• posters: group member initials-size-color or bw.PDF, such as:
  bw-ws-hw-sw-11×17-color.pdf, bw-ws-hw-sw-8×10-bw.pdf, etc.
• graphics: group member initials-#.png, such as:
  bw-ws-hw-sw-1.png, bw-ws-hw-sw-2.png, etc.

Assignment Reflection

10/7: Each student will compose a brief reflection detailing what they contributed to their group. This will be part of the Midterm Reflection each student completes.