Everyone has an opinion. When it came to last year’s Movin’ On festival, those opinions were boasted loud and clear (check out the comments on this post). Despite this, last year’s festival went rather smoothly (aside from Lupe Fiasco butchering the simple “We Are” chant). I’m no O.A.R. fan, but I was there, and I had a good time.

Students don’t take the time to think about the massive behind the scenes production that goes on to arrange an event like this. When the acts are announced, the flood of uproar that comes about is overwhelming.

You can’t please everyone, but Movin’ On directors will certainly try. After all, this festival is FREE, and it’s put on for the students!

In an effort to get the ball rolling, the first artist survey was released last week, much earlier than the first survey was released last year. Organizers of the festival have made it a focal point to start the organizing process earlier this year.

“Last year laid the foundation for a great festival and this year we have been able to fine tune the overall process, and that includes focusing on getting things done earlier,” said Bryn Gelaro, the overall director of Movin’ On when reached via email. “The sooner we have student feedback, the sooner we feel confident to select acts the students want to see. When it comes to booking artists there is no such thing as too soon.”

The selection process for deciding which artists will be on these surveys isn’t as simple as just naming chart-topping and up and coming bands. The artists chosen must represent the tastes of an entire student body, not just the favorites of the organizers.

“We look at up and coming artists across all genres. Diversity of genres is very important to us because we want the variety of our artists to match the variety of the music tastes of the student body,” Gelaro noted. “Big name acts will always attract a large crowd, but we try to make sure we also showcase up and coming talent.”

Aside from the desires of the students, there are other logistics involved. The festival’s budget, which has not yet been approved, is the key to the whole operation getting under way. Gelaro was unable to comment on this year’s budget, but she hopes it will be “similar to last year.”

To put it simply, the organizers of Movin’ On want to put together an event that the students want to see. Sure they’d love to book Kanye West or Maroon 5 (who I had no idea were still relevant until I saw this), but availability and artist fees are tough obstacles to overcome. There are some things that are simply out of the control of the festival organizers.

“It doesn’t matter if every single student on campus wants the same band to play the show—if that band refuses to do college shows or is playing another festival the same day or wants to make more money going someplace else, then that is completely out of our control. There is nothing we can do to change any of that,” Gelaro stated.

While the artists who will be performing at Movin’ On won’t be known for several more months, it is encouraging to see the first survey be released this early on in the school year. From an attendee’s viewpoint, last year’s event was well run. That should give the organizers the confidence to put on an even better show this year.

It is in no way easy to plan an event of this caliber, so support the organizers’ efforts and respond to their surveys. After all, this an event planned for YOU, the student body.

For more about the Movin’ On Festival, check out their website, Facebook page and follow them on Twitter: @psumovinon.