By Teino Evans, Staff ReporterHURRICANE IVAN has left some promoters in a quandary as they reschedule their events and get things in place to do the marketing all over again.
Most promoters are not taking any further chances with September and have resolved to play it safe by postponing all previously planned events until some time in October.
No definite dates have been set, but the promoters definitely know that they have lost a lot of money.
Ryan 'Ted' Francis, promoter of 'Ruption', which should have taken place on place on Friday, September 10, at the Students' Union, University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, St. Andrew says he has been left in financial uncertainty but remains hopeful that things will go well the
second time around.
According to Francis, Hurricane Ivan has caused him some major setbacks, especially in booking the venue and promotion money.
START FROM SCRATCH
"We have to basically start over from scratch. In total we spent about $80,000 in promotions alone, but the total cost we incurred would run in the region of about $210,000," Francis said.
The tentative date for 'Ruption' is October 1 and until then the promoters will just have to retrace their promotion steps. "Wi haffi guh jus sen out some more ads an' ting. The last time we used radio ads, fliers, car stickers, printed T-shirts and would have used some television ads, but because of the storm dat did haffi get cut," Francis explained.
However, all sponsors and endorsers of 'Ruption' are still on-board. In addition, Francis says the original concept remains in effect.
SPONSORS STILL ON-BOARD
"It will be the same concept, where we will be having a VIP section and special surprise giveaways. The theme is 'Ruption, hipsters and strings, dripping wet'. So far all our sponsors are still on board and it is a ZIP- endorsed event," Francis said.
Francis also remains hopeful that the event, which will the first official party on campus since the reopening of school, will be able to attract a strong turnout, as he says the Caribbean students who went home for the hurricane, will be returning to campus this week.
"Hopefully wi can mek back di money from patrons who will attend the event and we will also be having a 'pre-Ruption party' to offset some of the costs," The original entry fee of $350 remains.
Q45, Elephant Man's manager and also promoter for the deejay's birthday bash, which was slated for Saturday, September 11, despite admitting that there were some losses was reluctant to go into details. However, he remains optimistic that the event will be a hit when it happens.
"Wi can't really talk bout dat right yah now. Wi haffi guh jus plan back di party and hope everything guh well dis time," he said.
At least one person who was gearing up to celebrate with the 'Energy God' on his birthday is still in the party mood. Esrick Holness said he is still feeling a strong vibes for the show. "Mi know seh whenever da show deh drop mi haffi di deh, cause a di energy masta dat. Di show mus' hard. Plus dem still all a run di stale ad dem pon certain cable channel, suh is like seh di show still deh pon people mind," he said. Secular promoters, however, were not the only ones left in a quandary by Hurricane Ivan, as 'Praise Riot', an annual gospel show that was scheduled to take place on Saturday, September 11, at the Hope United Church, Hope Road, was also put on hold. One of the event's promoters, Lauriston Burke-Green, says they are looking at setting a new date for October. "We are hoping to reorganise the event for late October, as we have several factors coming into play while choosing a new date, the main one being the fact that our main target group are university students, some of whom will soon be preparing for mid-semester examinations," he explained.
