Amnesty International’s “Jamnesty,” DBSC’s “Open Mic,” and Albany Road’s coffeehouses give students and faculty a chance to showcase their talents and raise awareness on global issues.

Giving life to student-run activities can be a difficult task. “It’s hard because you also have to prepare for the worst,” said President of the DBSC Akilah Ffriend ’10. “You really don’t know what happens until the day of.”

So, how does one arrange these performances?

“First, it starts with the email,” explained Editor-In-Chief of Albany Road Hannah Flato ’10. “You need to email the people that you think would be interested in performing. Next, you contact the people in charge of the building you need for the performance space, and of any technology you might need,” she continued. Ffriend added, “Then, you advertise the event through numerous announcements. It takes constant planning and constant communication.”

Choosing the performers is a little different for each student-run activity. Students auditioned for Jamnesty with “performances ranging from the a cappella groups to lip syncing,” said President of Amnesty International KG Kaelin ’11. Jamnesty is a student-organized Haiti-relief project, a performance to initiate a response to the crisis in Haiti.

“With coffeehouses, it all depends,” said Flato. “If it is theme-based, we try to look for specific selections that fit the best with that theme. If not, we still elicit readers and performers we would like to see perform. If someone shows up unexpectedly and wants to perform, we welcome that as well.”

For the Open Mic, “We choose students based on past performances, what they do in the community, and how prominent of a community member they are” explained Ffriend.

Kaelin said, “We hope that, as well as providing the student body with a wonderful evening, we will engage and inform on current issues.