Pleasing the Indie music crowd while raising money for cystic fibrosis is all in a day’s work for the public relations students from UQ’s School of Journalism and Communication.
As part of their course requirements, a group of five PR students recently organised a charity concert featuring three Brisbane-based bands – The Chutes, Pink Bullet and Juice Debarkle.
Held at the Red Room on UQ’s St Lucia Campus, Just Breathe raised $1300 for Cystic Fibrosis Queensland, an organisation which provides counselling and support services to over 700 Queenslanders affected by the genetic lung disease.
“The event was held on the Tuesday after Park Life,” group member, Reece Mitchell, said.
“Considering most of our target market had attended Brisbane’s biggest music festival at the weekend, we were really impressed with the turn out.
“We had a target crowd of 100 and 95 people showed up.
“Entry to the event was $10 and the remaining funds were raised through a raffle and a collection tin.”
With a starting budget of zero, the show’s success relied entirely on the PR skills of each group member.
“It was a real collaborative effort,” Mr Mitchell said.
“I was responsible for the poster design, someone else liaised with the venue and a couple of people were involved with organising the bands.
“It was awesome – the bands were a breeze to work with and the crowd was a good mix of uni students, friends and supporters.
“The Chutes were fantastic – they nailed it, and midway through the performance they stopped and gave a bit of a speech about cystic fibrosis, which was a sweet touch.”
And while the students’ first crack at event management proved a success, the planning process was rife with hiccups typical of the PR industry.
“We actually had two bands pull out, one at the last minute, but we were able to replace them both,” Mr Mitchell said.
“When we spoke to our lecturer she told us that it was all part of the ups and downs of the business, so it was a good learning curve.”
Organising this concert formed part of the assessment for the course PR Practice and Strategy, coordinated by Dr Lyn McDonald.
Media: Reece Mitchell (0421 257 795, s4097318@student.uq.edu.au) or Penny Robinson at UQ Communications (07 3365 9723, penny.robinson@uq.edu.au)
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