BY MASAKI MATSUMOTO

The 31st Sapporo University Festival was held under autumn skies this October. It was a very joyful festival with various stalls for drinking and eating and with many stage events.
The theme of this festival was `Tradition and Innovation--Where do we go from here?' The concept of this theme is to keep the traditions of the past 30 years alive and to look for new traditions to add to them. The student body executive committee members planned the events very earnestly. Therefore, the events were very wonderful. The festival costs were ￥6.1 million and was paid for using the festival budget from the executive committee and advertising fees from the sponsors.
The executive committee spent the funds for events, equipment, the monetary rewards for the comedy groups, and so on. The monetary rewards included travel expenses, accommodation, brokerage fees and performance fees. When I asked a member of the executive committee how much the performance fee was, he told me that the guest's agencies do not open the fees to the public. But, he told me that the performance fees were half of all guest expenses.
By the way, there was big change between this year's festival and last year's . That change was in the main attractions. Last year the Japanese group Gospellers, which sings African-American gospel music, performed at the festival. This year, however, the executive committee invited the comedy duos TIM and Bananaman. Other universities also invited comedy groups. For example, Hokkaido Women's Junior College invited Neptune, Sapporo Gakuin University invited U-turn, and Hakodate University invited Pirates. Many universities invited the same kinds of entertainers. However, Fuji Women's University invited the actor Toshirou Yanagiba, and Hokusei Gakuen University invited the music group Flower Company. These universities did not follow the current fashion at their school festivals. The SU festival seemed more attractive than others because there were two main attractions rather than just one. However, these two comedy duos are not as well-known or as popular as other universities' guest comedians. It is not clear whether the budget was too small or if the preparation was too late. They should have invited a first-class entertainer or comedy group. TIM and Bananaman made the students laugh by using bad language and gestures, but they were not intellectually stimulating. In fact, throughout their performance they said bad words which can not be televised on TV and radio, and spoke ill of people, especially TIM.
After the festival there were comments like, "This disgraced the SU name," and, "I did not feel this festival was at the university level. "Also, some people said, "These entertainers should be on TV or on radio only." If the executive committee had selected an entertainer like Bakusyoumondai, who is an intellectual and does satire about the public, there would not have been such comments. As for the executive committee, they followed the current fashion, and invited famous entertainers who SU students wanted to see and meet at the festival. There are many who agree with the executive committee's opinion.
They knew there would be such comments, but their goal was for everybody who came to the festival to be able to enjoy it. Also, they said that we can cultivate our intellect and culture through our everyday campus life and classes. Moreover, there is the annual culture festival at SU in June. Everybody should be able to get excited and enjoy the 4-day festival. In fact, the executive committee said that the festival was a success. Many students also said it was successful. In some ways, it was a successful 31st festival.
The executive committee should listen to the students' negative comments. However, SU students will not be able to enjoy the festival by pursuing intellectual activities only. Certainly, some people will say that there is no cultural aspect to the festival without intellectual and cultural topics. It will be very difficult to make a perfect festival. Now, it is time to think about what a really good festival is. From now, the executive committee should do more and more to develop the festival, and create a high level festival which one cannot see at other universities. For example, it should be the duty of the Culture Club to submit cultural works for the festival that appeal strongly to the students.