On February 18, during halftime at the women's basketball game, Lancer Productions announced the theme, headliner and opener for Longwood’s Spring Weekend.
As part of the announcement, Lancer Productions shared, for the first time in the event’s history, the concert will not be free to attend. Students will be charged $10 for tickets, faculty/staff members will be charged $25 and all others will be charged $35 for the Spring Weekend performance, which will be held in the Joan Perry Brock Center. This year's artist will be Yung Gravy.
Susan Sullivan, assistant dean and director of the university center and student activities, said that the decision to get a bigger artist was something that Lancer Productions had been considering for a while. “I’ve been doing this for 27 years. And I would say probably over the past 3 or 4 years, there have been calls from students to get larger performers.”
“We went back and forth over how much to charge,” said Sullivan, who also serves as an adviser for Lancer Productions. “And we settled on $10 as a good number, because students spend $10 fairly regularly — whether it's at Starbucks, if they were at Press Club or if they went out to dinner.”
Student reactions to the announcement were immediate, with many taking to Yik Yak, an anonymous social media platform, to vent both frustration as well as support for the decision. The Rotunda spoke with a number of students on both sides of the issue.
Some students responded positively to the announcement. “I think it’s exciting that we’re getting a bigger mainstream artist this year,” senior Ryan Smith said in a message to The Rotunda. “Besides, when are you ever going to get $10 tickets to a concert?”
However, others were less enthusiastic. Students invite their families, friends and alumni to come back to visit. Charging for tickets to the concert means that less people will go, because non-student tickets are $25,” student performer Emma Piper said in an interview with The Rotunda. “For student organizations who perform, we rely on this kind of publicity and outreach to draw attention to our organization. The less people who see us perform, the less organizations like mine can thrive.”
“The student backlash has been a little disappointing,” Lancer Productions executive board member Sarah Lacy said. “But, I saw where they were coming from because it’s been free every other year. At the same time, we lowered [the price] as much as we could.”
“We’re not going to make any money,” Sullivan said. “Maybe we’ll break even, but it’s to recoup some funds so that those funds could go to Oktoberfest or next year's Spring Weekend.”
Student performers have also expressed concern over being moved to the Stubbs side of the N.H Scott Center instead of having a stage on Stubbs Lawn like in previous years.
“How will we draw attention to the lawn for people to come see us? Overall, it is entirely unfair to organizations who prepare for months to perform,” Piper said. “It feels like the school is saying that [student performers] do not matter as much as the main concert,” she added.
“We’re still going to provide sound equipment for [student performers], it’s just going to be in the cement instead of up in front of Stubbs,” Sullivan said. “Every time we get a stage, we have to pay for a permit and an inspection, and that’s an additional $200 each.”
“If next year we’re like, ‘It would be good to have a platform,’ that would look like investing and make it a dance floor platform that does not need a permit,” Sullivan said. “We didn’t feel [a platform] was worth it at the moment, but we’re still doing student entertainment, just like we’ve always done.”
“Part of the reason that we changed to the Joan Perry Brock Center, but also changed things from Stubbs, was because of accessibility,” Lancer Productions President Hannah Williams said. “We had someone from [the Accessibility Resources Office] come in and talk to us about accessibility for our events, but specifically mentioning Spring Weekend and talking about how Stubbs' Lawn wasn't very accessible.”
“Everything is covered in grass, and the only way up that is paved is through stairs,” Williams said. “So, that's part of the reason that moving it down there, where there are pathways instead of stairs, helps as well.”
“I’ve already talked to the director of ARO,” Sullivan said, “She said [the Joan Perry Brock Center] is the most accessible building on this campus, with accessible bathrooms, elevators and everything.”
Sullivan said during the interview that Spring Weekend has continued to heavily evolve over time. “Pre-COVID, we used to have a beer garden and a picnic, and those were huge pieces of Spring Weekend and Oktoberfest that we don't have anymore.”
“There's always backlash,” Williams said. “But, I think it's going to be better in terms of the students as well, because we are able to bring bigger artists and we don’t have to worry about the weather.”
“I don’t think us moving indoors changes the tradition, it’s just evolving based on what we’ve heard in feedback from students,” Sullivan said.
This year’s Spring Weekend will take place on Saturday, April 11, 2026. More information about tickets can be found here.
