The Green Music Center is looking for suggestions from students and the community on how to improve its venue, and help shape its future direction.

An idea swap was held on Friday in the Cooperage to try and generate ideas and connect with the community. Just under 20 people came that included a mix of students, faculty, university staff and community members. Jacob Yarrow, executive director of the Green Music Center and mediator of the event, said he would like to hear more from students. 

During the meeting, participants threw out ideas including using the building for more than just concerts and expanding the genres of featured musicians. Also proposed by community members was to use the building for more casual purposes, such as a nightly jazz club performance. More shows on the lawn to allow for dancing was brought up after an audience member said, “The chairs in the building just get in the way of that sort of thing.”

Yarrow expounded upon some of the problems he has received as executive director. According to Yarrow, he has previously heard of students wondering if they could book an artist like Taylor Swift for a performance. While Yarrow said he would be quite happy to be able to secure talent like Swift, he noted that the Grammy winner simply would not come to the GMC, saying that the smallest venues she would play might be a basketball stadium, which roughly have the capacity for 20,000 people.

A building like the GMC is operating with about half of its funds coming from ticket sales, and it is not unexpected for an artist’s asking fee to match those ticket sales, according to Yarrow. This has the effect of further ensuring that many big name artists in the current music scene, whose asking prices are much higher, would not be attracted to playing at Sonoma State. Another worry raised was the building itself seemed cold and impersonal, held down by its nature as a classical music hall. The fact that the building is almost always closed was a point of irritation, and some of the biggest concerns raised were that the building seemed unavailable to school departments other than music.

According to Yarrow, “The GMC was built to serve western classical music with an uncompromising commitment to that art form.” This may hold some effect on what performers are attracted to the venue, but Yarrow notes that other genres and performances still work quite well, and that the GMC is looking to expand to show those performers.

The Green Music Center is doing what it can to alleviate these factors. The staff is working to increase the transparency in the budget, and to increase the hours in which the center will be open for campus use. Yarrow ended the meeting reflecting on the building’s future, noting the building’s mental ties to Tanglewood, the famed concert hall in Massachusetts. His vision was clearly stated: “The GMC has been called the Tanglewood of the west. I want it to be the Green Music Center of Sonoma State.”

If you have any suggestions, you can send them to Yarrow at [email protected] or call him at (707) 664-3258.