Dillo Day’s Future Secured: Administration Steps Up with Additional Funding
The future of Dillo Day, the nation’s largest student-run music festival, faced uncertainty last April. An open letter published in The Daily Northwestern by the Mayfest Productions Executive Board, organizers of Dillo Day, expressed concern about Dillo’s continuation without additional financial support from the Northwestern administration. However, this year, the University has committed to funding its anticipated costs, along with A&O Productions’ Fall Blowout and Dance Marathon, said Vice President for Student Affairs Susan Davis, freeing up resources for other clubs and organizations on campus.
The announcement relieved many students who valued Dillo’s impact on Northwestern, including Phoebe Feldman, a junior in the School of Communications who performed at the festival last year with her student band Tavern.
“I was pretty disappointed by the budget cut,” Feldman said. “Our community’s very academically focused, and it was great that we had this big event that there was a lot of attention and money towards.”
Tavern was selected to perform the Main Stage after being declared the winner of Mayfest Production’s Battle of the Bands, in which student bands compete to perform at Dillo Day.
“[Dillo is] a great opportunity for people who want to play on a big stage,” Feldman said. “Most likely, I’m never going to do anything like that again.”
In the past, the Associate Student Government (ASG) funded Mayfest Productions. In Spring 2022, the Student Activities Finance Committee (SAFC) allocated $354,440 to Mayfest Productions, the second largest total group funding allocation to any campus club. A&O Productions received the most with $447,940.55.
SAFC allocates funding for all registered student organizations across Northwestern’s campus. This funding pool comes from the Student Activity Fee on the tuition bill.
In September, The Daily Northwestern reported that the increased administrative funding “freed up approximately $230,000 for ASG and the Student Activities Finance Committee to redistribute to student organizations for use in the 2023–2024 school year.”
Mayfest Co-Chair Darya Daneshmand said that the additional funding by the administration was necessary.
“With this budget, we’ve been able to allocate sufficient funding to each of our committees,” Daneshmand said. “With decision-making processes less constrained by budgeting concerns, our members save time and gain creative liberty to take on new projects and go above and beyond with existing ones.”
A Northwestern University spokesperson, Erin Karter, told NBR in a statement that the school’s commitment to funding came about through conversations between student government leadership and administrators during the ASG funding cycle beginning in Spring 2023.
In her statement, Karter explained, “More broadly, this commitment reflects the University’s work with ASG to better understand their needs as they make funding decisions.”
Northwestern has no funding plans released past the 2023–24 academic year.
“We [hope] for continued support,” Daneshmand said, “but know that nothing is guaranteed and that numerous factors go into making these decisions at the administrative level.”
Although the date has yet to be released, Dillo Day will return for another year in the spring for students to enjoy, thanks to the additional funding. In her statement, Karter emphasized the importance of club-run events for the Northwestern community.
“Fall Blowout, Dance Marathon and Dillo Day are campus traditions that help make Northwestern a special place and create lifelong memories for our students,” Karter said.
