By Rilla Haverdink
A mistakenly sent email led some to think Samford was following in the footsteps of universities like Auburn and would allow all their students to attend theatre and dance performances for free.
The email was sent by School of the Arts marketing to everyone at Samford on Thursday, Sept. 5, announcing that all students could receive a free ticket to every 2024-2025 production using a code.
However, for years, only arts students had access to these free ticket codes, or comp tickets.
“Art students had access to it, people enrolled in an arts class or something like that,” said sophomore psychology and theatre major Ethan Bullock. “So it came as a surprise to all of us when it was sent to the entire school and we’re like hold on, wait a minute; what?”
I.T. at Samford later retracted the mistakenly sent email.
“There is in fact no free comp code for students for arts performances,” said Samford marketing and communication.
Marketing and communication said it was a miscommunication between their marketing manager and the Wright Center staff.
Though some people’s hopes for free mainstage productions may have been dashed, theatre and dance department chair and professor Mark Castle explained that there are still free shows at Samford.
“It’s probably at least 10 times as many free things as there are things that are ticketed,” Castle explained.
This school year holds a student choreography showcase, 10-minute plays, one-act plays, and a season of shows from the Underground, a student-run theatre group — all for free, according to Castle.
Students can also expect many free music performances.
“Usually the ones that are ticketed are just purely the ones where we just want to make sure that everybody who’s coming has a place to sit there,” said Castle.
Additionally, tickets help cover costs. Castle estimated that the university covers 80% of production expenses while tickets cover the remainder.
While students do receive a discount for ticketed performances, discounting tickets from $20 to $10, theater for youth major Lizzie Macdonald wondered about an inconsistency in what events are free for students.
“We have free tickets to basketball games and football games,” she pointed out.
Box office student employee Juno Benton thinks student admission to performing arts shows should be free.
“I think that giving students free tickets and having them comped would let students from other majors and stuff be able to come participate in the arts events, even if they’re not an art student, so they feel included in being able to go watch,” said Benton.
While Samford students don’t get free admission to mainstage productions like students at Auburn, they can purchase discounted tickets for $10 and attend other free performances.
