Harvard College Live Splits From College Events Board, Takes Over Campus Performances

Harvard College Live Splits From College Events Board, Takes Over Campus Performances

A new student organization called Harvard College Live has splintered off from the College Events Board to take over campus performances sponsored by the Dean of Students Office this year, according to Harvard College administrators and student leaders.

After a restructuring last spring, HCL — formerly CEB’s Art and Entertainment subcommittee — now handles Yardfest, Crimson Jam, and Battle for Yardfest, and plans to add smaller events including stand-up comedy shows and open mic nights.

CEB retains the College’s other campus-wide programming, such as the events leading up to the Harvard-Yale game and the annual freshman screening of “Legally Blonde” on the steps of Widener Library.

The split coincides with an increase in the money behind those events. Beginning this academic year, the College raised the Student Activities Fee from an optional $200 annual payment to a mandatory $450 charge, a change administrators said would stabilize funding for programming.

HCL board member Aviva K. Di Paolo ’27 said separating from CEB was “the natural next step.”

“We were under CEB, but we were really doing our own thing when it came to the concerts,” Di Paolo said. “When we started pushing more in that direction, it just seemed more right to have it be its own separate entity.”

Di Paolo said the biggest difference is in the kinds of events HCL can now pursue.

“The only thing that, in my opinion, has really changed is our scope,” Di Paolo said. “Before it seemed like we were restricted to Crimson Jam, Yardfest, just because that’s always what we had done.”

Associate Dean for Student Engagement Jason R. Meier said the split was student driven.

“We have been of the hope and mindset that this split will allow HCL to focus on more student talent and showing more entertainment on campus,” he wrote in a Wednesday statement.

Funding for both organizations will not be finalized until later this month, according to Meier. The DSO has historically divided SAF revenue among CEB, House Committees, and the Harvard Undergraduate Association, with CEB receiving $450,000 last year.

Board member Neeraja S. Kumar ’27 said she expected the split to leave both groups with more room to spend.

“CEB has often had constraints based on the amount of money that goes towards Yardfest and Crimson Jam,” Kumar, a Crimson news editor, said. “If we create two different orgs, that can be a really good opportunity to build both orgs.”

HCL board member Erin O. Garnier ’29 said the group also wants to change how it picks performers, increasing chances for student input.

“We’re hoping for more student involvement,” Garnier said. “The process for choosing an artist or choosing what events we do is nebulous and siloed into us five.”

“We want to be more transparent about what that process looks like and give the student body options to share their feedback: what kind of artists they want to see, what kind of genres, what kind of live experiences,” she added.

Garnier said she hopes a fuller slate of events can draw students together across class years and Houses, arguing that students crave those opportunities on campus.

HCL’s first event as an independent organization was Crimson Jam earlier last week, where students praised Swedish DJ Alesso’s laser-heavy set. Meier said that the higher SAF helped pay for both the headliner and production elements including the lights and giveaways.

“We were shocked, but so excited, by the amount of people that were showing up,” HCL board member Jamie A Hertfort ’27 said. “It was the biggest Crimson Jam we’ve had in the past couple years.”

Herfort said the reception left the group optimistic about the rest of the year.

“It made us so happy and so excited for the year to come,” she said.

—Staff writer Wyeth Renwick can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on X @wzrenwick.

—Staff writer Claire L. Simon can be reached at [email protected] and Signal at csimon.13. Follow her on X @ClaireSimon.

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