Who's running the show this year?

By Safiya Martin

It’s almost here. SUNY Fredonia will rock out on May 3 to the sounds of Cartel, The Secret Machines and a handful of others.

But Kaleena Goldsworthy knows her job is nowhere near over.

A senior from Syracuse, poised to graduate with two music degrees, Goldsworthy is making sure she’s remembered. Fred Fest chair on the Spectrum Entertainment board is only one of the three major positions she holds on student groups. As co-founder of both the Music Industry Club and Fredonia’s record label, Hand Me Down Records, many would say she’s at the top of her game. To her, this is all just a “nice way to close out my senior year.”

Being the chair for such a large event is what Goldsworthy has waited for from the beginning of her college experience. While others might have bided their time, she was shadowing the Fred Fest chair from her freshman year, learning the ropes from the very beginning. That experience is what grounds her now as she and her 13-person committee attempt to pull off a memorable show.

When others might have let the stress do them in, she’s taken it all in stride with an optimistic and energetic outlook that can’t help but rub off onto anyone working around her.

“It gets stressful but it’s awesome at the same time, and it’s not just me. I’ve got other people helping me and they’ve all made it a lot easier,” says Goldsworthy. “To be a part of something so big, being able to be in a position of authority when you’re in charge of making sure it happens, it’s worth it.”

That position of authority put her in the spotlight earlier this year, when this year’s headliner was announced to the student body. The uproar is something that Spectrum is used to, however, and likely will continue to face as long as it keeps producing the concert. Still, even amid the adversity, Goldsworthy has kept focused.

“We definitely don’t have a large campus by any means,” she said, “but 5,400 students and trying to pick one band? Y’know, to do that is near impossible, especially to find a band that everyone would agree with.

”People have to remember our budget isn’t like the University of Buffalo. We’re competing with other schools who have their concerts at the same time while still trying to keep an edge.”

While the students of Fredonia are eating Dino barbeque, fried dough and staring into the liquor, Kaleena’s tasks that day are much more arduous. Meeting with performers and their managers, making sure all 60 workers are in the right place, and doing the mad dash from one location to the other are just a few of the duties she will be fulfilling.

The joy, however, that is on her face at the prospect of Fred Fest, cannot be ignored. This is a woman who loves concerts and is pleased to present one to the student body. When discussing the possibility of the concert no longer being included in the school’s repertoire, she is very vocal.

“It’d be really sad to see no more Fred Fest; it’s been a tradition for a while, and we [Spectrum] definitely don’t want to have to stop it. It would have to be from forces beyond our control,” she says as she prints out paperwork for the event.

And as for seeing events like Fred Fest in her future?

“I’d love to plan something like this again, she says. “I don’t know if I’d necessarily be saying that if I didn’t get to work with the people I’m with now. I plan on a small scale for my band, but this was awesome."