University of Wisconsin’s Revelry Music and Arts Festival has been forced to relocate and downsize significantly in 2016 after losing its primary location and a substantial amount of its funding.

Due to construction in Memorial Union and a decrease in its budget of almost $150,000, Revelry 2016 will move to a smaller location and decrease its maximum capacity from 10,000 attendees to 2,000, Revelry Executive Director Ayla Kress said.

Budget cuts lead to a smaller show

Kress said UW’s $250 million budget cuts from the state last year are largely responsible for Revelry’s slashed budget.

“Sadly, due to budget cuts, we have suffered a large loss of funding this year,” Kress said. “Our funding previously came from a lot of different groups who felt a lot of pressure from the UW budget cuts.”

Additionally, Revelry’s inability to secure a partnership with prior collaborator Frank Productions also necessitated relocation and downsizing, Kress said.

Frank Productions, which provided stage production services for Revelry in previous years, was unable to partner with the festival this year due to booking issues and unavailable dates, Kress said.

Revelry’s goal for 2016 is to deliver a small, focused and well-executed event in spite of the difficulties the festival has encountered thus far, Kress said.

“This year, we will be focusing more on quality rather than quantity,” Kress said. “We’ll have two or three large acts and maybe a smaller opener, and we’ll make sure we put a lot of money into acts people really want to see.”

This year, Kress said Revelry will receive most of its funding from the Wisconsin Union Directorate.

In the past, Revelry received funding primarily from the dean of students, but budget cuts forced the office to cut nonessential programs, Associate Dean of Students Argyle Wade said.

“It’s not like we don’t think Revelry is important,” Wade said. “We’re trying to figure out how to sustain all the programs and things we’re doing, and at this point we just can’t do everything we’ve done in the past.”

Wade said the Division of Student Life may be open to sponsoring Revelry in the future if UW’s budget outlook improves, but such an outcome is difficult to imagine at this point in time.

When Revelry was created in 2012, the festival was intended to eventually become monetarily self-sufficient and not be dependent upon funding from the Dean of Students permanently, Wade said.

“The long-term goal that we’ve talked about with students from the very beginning is self-sufficiency,” Wade said. “At some point, Revelry needs to be sustainable on its own or needs to be paid for by students, because they are the ones receiving the benefit.”

The city’s role

In addition to funding from the Wisconsin Union Directorate and private donors, Revelry will also receive a $5,000 grant from the City of Madison in 2016, Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said — the same amount they received 2015.

City Council unanimously approved the budget resolution funding Revelry in 2015.

Around the time of Revelry’s inception in 2013, the Mifflin Street Block Party had become a problem for the city, resulting in hundreds of arrests and costing the Madison Police Department hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. Verveer said Revelry offered students and others an alternative to Mifflin, leading to decreased attendance and arrests at Mifflin in 2013 and 2014.

“The success of Revelry in the past has greatly assisted the city with its overall goal of keeping the Mifflin Street Block Party as safe as possible,” Verveer said.

While it is expected that Revelry’s significant downsizing will have an effect on Mifflin this year, it is difficult to predict, Verveer said.

But the low attendance record for Revelry 2015 suggests the primary determining factor of Mifflin’s attendance may not be the size or appeal of Revelry, but rather the conduct of MPD officers patrolling Mifflin, Verveer said. In spite of Revelry 2015’s large venue and popular musical acts, Verveer said the festival saw a decrease in ticket sales as many students instead attended Mifflin, where students perceived police enforcement as surprisingly more relaxed than previous years.  

MPD’s more laid-back approach to enforcement at Mifflin in 2015 contrasted sharply with previous years in which officers took a zero-tolerance approach to ordinance violations and alcohol-related infractions at the event, he said.

Verveer said he has not yet spoken with MPD about the approach they will take to Mifflin in 2016, and could not comment on what will or will not happen at Mifflin this year.

“It’s a two-way street: Mifflin affects Revelry and Revelry affects Mifflin,” Verveer said. “I think it’s undeniable that the reduced capacity for Revelry 2016 will have some effect on Mifflin, but what effect it will have is difficult to say at this point.”

MPD did not respond to request for comment.

In spite of the myriad concerns surrounding this year’s Revelry, Kress is optimistic about the festival’s future.

Once Revelry finds its footing this year, the festival will hopefully grow substantially in future years and perhaps become an even larger event than it was before, Kress said.

“This year, Revelry may be a bit smaller than what students are used to, but next year it will be better and after that it’ll be even better,” Kress said. “Although we’re downsizing this year, I don’t want people to fret. I think this year’s Revelry is going to be amazing; we’ve got some tricks up our sleeve.”