By Julia Mericle
News Editor
St.Bona.Venue, an initiative of the Office of Events and Conferences, plans to attract more people to campus through venue rentals, leadership and professional development, conferences, speaker series, concerts and camps, according to Jennifer Pulver, event sales and marketing manager.
“We don’t want Bonaventure to be as removed, to be set so far back. We want to be a vibrant part of the community and the region,” Pulver said.
According to Pulver, one way to do this is through thought leadership events to feature the many educated professors and staff at the university.
“We wanted to put a spotlight on their expertise and bring it around in a way that is not just relevant for student’s education per se, but that is relevant for a larger community,” Pulver said.
Pulver added a university setting is the perfect place to foster this initiative.
An increase in entertainment on campus is another facet of St.Bona.Venue. Pulver explained that Bonaventure held several notable concerts in the past, and she hopes to bring that back.
“We have an arena that seats about 4,000 people for a concert-type setting. So, that is not a small venue,” Pulver said. “It is one of the larger venues in the region, and we would like to utilize that when it is not being used for sports by students.”
Pulver said concerts could be held year round, with primary dates in March, April and May. Ticket prices will be similar to other regional ticket prices.
Caitlin Webster, events and conferences manager, spoke about Bonaventure’s ability to host conferences, with banquet and meeting spaces for groups of 10-300 people.
During the summer of 2014, Bonaventure hosted the Thomas Merton conference with about 70 people in attendance. The university submitted a proposal to host the International Thomas Merton Conference in 2017, with a potential 500 people in attendance and was awarded the proposal, according to Webster.
St.Bona.Venue also plans to provide student-run summer camps, including sports camps, STEM programs, art camps and theater camps, according to Webster.
Pulver said when the Office of Events and Conferences sees an opportunity for St.Bona.Venue they explore it.
“With the upsurge in shows like ‘Chopped’ on the Food Network, we’ve got a couple dining spaces here on campus that we could allow folks to come in and work with our dining services to do some cooking classes and wine and beer pairings,” Pulver said.
They will tentatively begin in December or January.
“So folks who are out of school can come back on campus, and they can take a workshop or a boot camp or something like that,” Pulver said.
According to Pulver, the Office of Events and Conferences is creating a catalog of professional development courses and workshops offered for the spring semester.
Pulver said she foresees some of those short events building into longer events that can be held during the summer when students are not on campus.
“So during the summer we kind of turn Bonaventure into a hotel. Our rates are better than what you would get across the road,” Webster said, referring to the Fairfield Inn.
Webster added the townhouses are rented out during the summer months.
“We put in queen size beds and flat screen TV’s and really give it that apartment feel,” Webster said.
Other university features, including access to the Hickey Dining Hall and the Sandra A. & William L. Richter Center, are available for guests.
“Dining services can put together everything from a steak and potato meal, high-end meal, all the way down to the food service going through Hickey dining,” Pulver said.
Transportation services, such as to and from the Buffalo airport, are evolving as well, Webster said.
Pulver added Bonaventure’s knowledge of the services available in the region make it easy to provide that information to the customer.
“Our office really looks at customer service as, to some extent, a one-stop-shop for the client holding an event here,” Pulver said.
Rates for St.Bona.Venue rentals include $1,100 for the Hickey Dining Hall, $550 for the University Chapel and $400 for the Hall of Fame Room. A full list of rates is available by contacting Jennifer Pulver at jpulver@sbu.edu.
All profit revenue will go back into the university as whole, Webster said.
Both Pulver and Webster said as St.Bona.Venue grows, they are learning which focus areas work well and which ones do not work well.
“We are very much in the discovery phase of figuring out exactly what we will be best at,” Pulver said.
Pulver said the plans for St.Bona.Venue are very fluid and depend on sponsorship funding.
Webster said, “As the St.Bona.Venue tagline ‘We’re open for business in a new way’ says, the Office of Events and Conferences will look into anything or try anything.”
The St.Bona.Venue skills portion of the initiative offers professional development programs.
mericlje13@bonaventure.edu
