By Jon Roe
Jablonski brings people to events much like the bearded lady draws the crowds to his/her cage.
As the SU vice-president events, Eric Jablonski has quite an enviable job. He books concert events for MacEwan Hall and the Ballroom, runs the show behind popular hang-outs like That Empty Space and organizes weekly, cheap entertainment for the masses, like Cinemania and Master Debaters. Maybe enviable isn’t the right word, as all those things require a lot of work and planning, it’s certainly a better option than having to lobby unreceptive government officials, take complaints from students about how their professors are unfair, or deal with complicated financial issues. Regardless, to date Jablonski has been up to the task.
1. Kept weekly events like Cinemania and That Empty Space consistently awesome.
2. Introduced new, well-received weekly events, like Master Debaters and opening up That Empty Space on Mondays as a lounge space.
3. Successful awareness weeks, like Dino Days and Alcohol Awareness Week.
4. Used alternative forms of promotions.
5. Made U of C 101 a great success with evening events, interfaculty games and the “bling bling” fundraiser for cystic fibrosis.
Yet to come
•”Around the World” international week
•Black History Month events.
•Return of DJ night at the Den.
•Enviropalooza Week.
•A plan for CJSW’s move.
Jablonski gained a lot of valuable experience as an events commissioner last year which he has applied to this term. Notably, two of his goals were to have a Fine Arts Appreciation Week and to increase Dinos promotion, both of which were addressed using awareness weeks. The Fine Arts Awareness Week brought pianos and dancing to MacEwan Student Centre and art shows to That Empty Space, while Dino Days allowed students to play sports-themed games against Dinos athletes.
However, even Jablonski admits the promotion of those events could have been better. His events often come together at the last minute, making promotion difficult. Jablonski noted this was one of his goals to improve in the coming semester and hopes to have events planned in advance to help build anticipation–and perhaps get more students involved. Despite some last-minute planning, Jablonski’s events have been successful due to the extremely populous venues the SU controls, namely MSC.
Attending That Empty Space on a Friday will give a pretty solid indication of how successful events have been this year–the place is packed to the point of being a sauna. Having awareness weeks planned in advance to allow for proper promotion is a step in the right direction to boost student participation. Jablonski’s job is to keep the student population entertained, and he has helped increase the number of weekly on-campus options far beyond getting smashed at the Den.