Ian Kopp is the Link UVic candidate for director of events. He is one of three candidates running for this position. Voting for this election opens March 5, 2014.
What area do you study?
I’m a double major in geography and environmental studies. Fourth year.
Sum up Ian Kopp in one sentence.
I’m heavily involved in music; I’m heavily involved in my school, geography, and environmental studies, and that’s my sentence.
What kinds of events do you want to see on campus?
I want to see a wide variety of events. By wide variety I mean from the level of local to international calibre, from acting to comedians to speaker series to music.
What are your thoughts on the events referendum that fell through earlier this year?
That’s a good question. I actively campaigned for that referendum. I handed out leaflets and I was fully in support for the two dollar raise. Seeing both the amount of people that voted and the result of the referendum I’m totally OK with it. It was not necessarily a surprise and disappointment but I think there are other ways to create an events budget that’s akin to other universities without necessarily raising student fees. I think you have to look for other creative solutions and partnerships in the community.
Why are you the one for the job?
I have seven years of experience with various different events. I’ve been a fairly active student for all four years of my education. I know how to get things done on an operational level in terms of events planning.
What kinds of events are the most important to students?
I don’t want to answer for all students. I don’t want to say that I have that answer, but what events are important to me and the people I communicate with and talk to are events that are culturally invigorating, culturally accepting, and include as many students as possible.
How do you plan to improve attendance to these events?
It’s going to be a combination of things. It’s going to be marketing. It’s going to be getting the word out there to other students in a creative way that we might not be doing necessarily at this moment. It’s also going to be trying to figure out what people want to hear and see and do on campus and I think that if we do a better job connecting and getting input from students and actively using that input in our event planning, we will have a better chance of getting more people out to events. I think making more affordable and free events is a super important part of that. I think that in terms of the people on campus who regularly attend events and people who don’t regularly attend events its just a matter of proving in general that there is value in being active and engaged on your campus. That spans events as well as general active engagement on campus. The result of the referendum, 16 per cent of campus voting is quite a small number of people.
What made you want to run?
I was originally asked by Ariel Mishkin. She offered me the idea of running. Quite a bit of changing and negotiating followed and I had to think about it for a while but I think that the UVSS is a great society and I think that the opportunities for the evolution of community and engagement with your campus and cultural engagement are so great. I couldn’t really pass it up after the idea had been planted in my head.
What groups do you want to get involved with on campus?
The two major groups that the director of events portfolio works with are Vikes and Res Life. Those groups I’m definitely excited about connecting with as director of events. I think I’d like the resources of the UVSS be available to any group on campus that wants to not only have an event present but wants to organize their own event. So that includes clubs, course unions, all of the advocacy groups really. I would like to do a better job of making sure it’s not just the board of directors or a small group that’s planning all of the events but we are able to give out expertise and knowledge about event planning and our resources as the UVSS to those people if they want to plan their own events.
What’s one band you’re really into right now?
Modest Mouse. Yeah I’m having throwbacks to the ’90s and the early 2000s.
