Union unveil ambitious future for Summer Ball

The Union have unveiled ambitious plans to “increase the size, scale and profile” of the Summer Ball in years to come, saying that the “ultimate aim” would be to host the event “in Hyde Park or a similar venue” and attract a huge number of students from across London. The news comes with just a week to go until this year’s Ball, which features headliners Laura Marling and Ian Brown.

The Union’s plans for the future include further collaborations with other universities, building on this year’s joint involvement of King’s and Goldsmiths. The Union say that they have “an expression of interest” for collaboration next year with UCL. A spokesperson for the Union said that the “focus is the enjoyment of students at Imperial” but that increased costs from increasing the scale and “dynamic” of the ball mean that “a wider attendee base is needed”. The spokesperson pointed to events such as the Leeds Student Ball and Cardiff University’s Beach Party as “benchmarking” events to aspire to for their large crowds and high-profile lineups.

The Union are also looking to increase the amount of sponsorship they receive for the Summer Ball. The suppliers of Jägermeister, who are providing significant equipment, stock and staff at this year’s ball, have expressed interest in being a key sponsor for next year supplying both staging and product support, subject to the scale of the ball increasing, say the Union.

There have been some minor changes to the plans for this year. In addition to the main Queen’s Lawn stage and a now downsized Prince’s Gardens stage, the Great Hall is to be used as a club for dance music, as in previous years. The works in Exhibition Road and restrictions in licensing in Prince’s Gardens have limited the size of the Prince’s Gardens stage, which will now feature student bands, with the Queen’s Lawn becoming the focus for the rest of the live music, with the headliners playing there.

Ticket sales from other universities are believed to be lower than hoped, with the majority of the approximate 1000 tickets sold thus far being to Imperial students. The Union declined to confirm or deny the figures, saying that the number of tickets sold “remains commercially sensitive” but the spokesperson said that they were confident that there would be “much greater ticket sales from all involved Unions” in the run-up to the Ball.

The Union said that the up-scaling of the Summer Ball was an “ambitious initiative with massive future potential” whilst recognizing that this “as with all new ventures and changes will take some time to bed in.”

There have been some eyebrows raised at the decision of Deputy President (Finance & Services) Ravi Pall to take a week of leave in the run-up to the Ball. When questioned about this he said that he was still active via email and had attended meetings relating to the Summer Ball while on leave. He argued that the preparation for the Ball was now wholly logistical and so his absence would have no negative impact.

President Alex Kendall, who as Pall’s line manager approved his leave, similarly defended the decision saying, “the role of the DPFS is on a strategic level regarding the long and medium term. They are not involved with the final weeks of operational issues.”

The Summer Ball is next Saturday 18th June. Tickets are £45 (or £50 on the night) and can be bought from the Union’s website.