Professional partiers: student event planners diversifies UI nightlife
Photo Courtesy of Heartland Music Festival
People come together for the Heartland Music Festival concert on Feb. 5, 2015. Heartland focuses on attracting a diverse audience to its venues and represents multiple nationalities.
February 20, 2017
When Chang Hun Lee visited The Canopy Club in 2011, he rarely saw other Asian students at the concerts.
It bothered him, but he wasn’t surprised.
“We kind of understood the party scene at the University,” said Lee, a junior in Business. “There are some parties that international students can’t really attend, like fraternity and sorority parties.”
He wanted a solution, so he took it upon himself to fix it. In 2011, South Korean students founded Heartland, a University based event planning organization. Hun Lee is now the president of the organization.
Since then, Heartland has become a major organization on campus to unite students of various backgrounds through music.
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“If you go to any music festival, people are always together no matter what color they are,” said Lee.
They’ve hosted many different party events in Champaign-Urbana venues such as Joe’s Brewery, The Canopy Club, The Accord, Soma and The Hub.
Cathy Sanchez, a junior in Media and an administrative assistant at The Canopy Club, said Heartland parties almost always sell out when hosting events at the venue.
“There is just so many different kinds of people that come,” Sanchez said, “They are usually the most diverse nights at the club.”
Heartland’s staff reflects their diverse mission with 42 members, representing over seven different nationalities.
“In order to get a diverse audience, our members have to be diverse,” said Lee.
Hun Lee said Heartland is broken up into three teams: Korean, Chinese and non-international. Staff members of their representative nationalities advertise to their respective communities.
Kelly Song, a Heartland staff member and junior in LAS, said joining the organization helped her and fellow staff adjust to life on campus.
“It teaches people a lot about how things work in America,” Song said.
From 2013 to 2015, Heartland had a contract with The Canopy Club to host Unofficial St. Patrick’s Day events. This year, Heartland will be hosting their Unofficial event at The Hub.
In addition to hosting independent events, Heartland collaborates with student RSO’s to draw in larger and more diverse crowds, including the Korean, Korean-American and Asian-American student associations.
Currently, Heartland is a non-profit group with members who volunteer their time. They sell tickets online with prices negotiated between organizers and vendors.
Lee said all proceeds from event go towards benefiting enhancing the organization and future events.
Ticket for events are sold through venue websites with ticket prices varying on the expenses of any given event.
Heartland will host their next event on Friday at Joe’s Brewery.
A previous version of this article identified Chang Hun Lee as a co-founder. He is the current president of the organization. Also, the organization is Heartland is broken up into three teams not departments. The Daily Illini regrets the error.
