After years of organizing cheap ticket sales during the summer, the Student Activities Office has started offering discount prices for Boston area entertainment options this winter as part of a larger ‘Winterfest’ program, officials in the office said this week.
SAO is offering cheap tickets to numerous area attractions through the program, including Boston Celtics games, movie passes and theater productions. SAO bought tickets in bulk to the various attractions, allowing the office to resell tickets to students at a discount, SAO activities assistant Jaron Friedman said.
The idea sprang out of the office’s Summerfest program, which has offered discount tickets during the summer for several years. SAO decided to try a winter version of the event because more students would benefit from the discounts during the school year, according to Jaron Friedman, a senior in the School of Management.
SAO has had a warm response to the program, which started at the beginning of the semester, Friedman said. Movie passes have been a particular hit with more than 400 sold, Friedman said. If the event is successful this winter, Friedman said SAO is planning to add more events to the program, including skiing excursions and Frog Pond trips in future years.
Tickets were raffled off at the SAO’s Super Bowl event Sunday night in the GSU, and Friedman said they will hopefully be raffled off at the Beanpot.
Friedman brought the idea to SAO after expressing concern with student involvement in the Summerfest program, he said. During the summer, the majority of the event tickets were sold to staff and faculty.
‘I am a senior and I hope that it is a great success and students get involved,’ Friedman said. ‘I leave it to the future classes to mold the Winterfest into something great.’
SAO is working in collaboration with campus Residence Hall Associations for the program, according to SAO Senior Coordinator of Programs Mindy Stroh. RHAs are able to buy tickets in bulk and sell them in campus dormitories, Stroh said. SAO chose the events specifically and bought them from the same contacts as used in the summer, Friedman said.
According to Friedman, SAO is not trying to make a profit on the program. If there are tickets left over, which Friedman said he hopes will not be the case, SAO will sell them back to the ticket broker offices without losing money. SAO is hoping to break even, but may lose money because of printing and promotion costs, Friedman said.
‘I hope people take advantage of this event so it can continue in the future,’ Stroh said.
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