Dawn Theater pairs with SIFE

Home News Dawn Theater pairs with SIFE

Students in Free Enterprise has partnered with The Dawn Theater’s owner Jeffrey Horton to host concerts at the theater and keep college life rocking.

The partnership will help foster a better connection between Hillsdale College and the community, said sophomore Jonathan Slonim, senior initiative director of community outreach for SIFE.

Slonim said his job is to find local businesses seeking growth opportunities.

Horton said he first talked about partnering with senior Elliot Gaiser, SIFE’s president, at the Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference this past fall.

“We are quite pleased that SIFE is interested in activities focused on enlivening campus life,” Horton said. “We would like to be more involved in campus life.”

The Dawn Theater project is intended to help generate student interest in the theater and will consequently foster local business. It will also provide a venue to host more events for students.

Horton said the events are a partnership. Horton will provide the location and SIFE will plans the events.

All events will feature student talent, said sophomore Nick Allen, project manager for The Dawn Theater. Allen plans student concerts and events at the Dawn.

“I’m the guy who writes up the game plan for the college nights,” he said.

The first event will be held Jan. 27 and is tentatively titled: “Hipster Paradise.” It will feature hipster bands that already have a following on campus. This will help guarantee a large turnout for the first event and will provide momentum for future events, Allen said.

“I want to make weekends more fun at the college,” Allen said. “My goal is to bring a sort of vibrancy to the downtown of Hillsdale by strengthening the connection between the college and the community. The Dawn project will do this by bringing students downtown more frequently.”

Concerts will continue throughout the semester on a bi-weekly basis. Allen said he chose concert dates based on gaps in the college schedule of events.

“We want to provide entertainment [on] otherwise dull weekends to spice things up,” Slonim said.

SIFE has not yet finalized ticket pricing but Allen said tickets will be under $10 and may be closer to $5. A full concession stand and bar will also be open during concerts.

Horton will split the profit from ticket and concession sales with SIFE.

“This is as it should be because with any entrepreneurship effort, one should reap the benefits of one’s labors,” Horton said.

SIFE will use its share of the money to fund other projects, including other community business projects and green energy initiatives, Slonim said.

Slonim said the close working relationship between the Hillsdale SIFE chapter and local businesses is unique because of the combination of having a small campus in a small town.

So far, the partnership has been successful, Horton said.

“The members of SIFE I have worked with are very capable and competent,” he said.

Allen said his newest event idea is a battle of the disc jockeys.

“It will be a competition to see who really lays down the freshest beat,” he said. “I just want to make Hillsdale more fun.”