What were your greatest memories of 2015? For many college students, the answer revolves around good nights out with friends. The challenge for ents is to provide this week by week, year on year, for the thousands of students that attend Trinity.
This year’s ents candidates believe that they have the solution. Whilst there were initially rumours of a seven-person race, four candidates have since emerged, comprising of two males and two females: Katie Browne, Caolan Maher, Grace O’Boyle and Padraic Rowley.
The Entertainments (Ents) Officer appears to be one of the more glamorous sabbatical roles. They are in charge of promoting a good time in and outside the gates of Trinity. While this sounds somewhat straightforward, the job requires a delicate balance between socialising and creating well-attended events. The role requires someone who knows how to have a good time but can also react responsibly if the good time goes too far.
In speaking to The University Times, current Ents Officer, Katie Cogan, explained that her role “involves quite a few different elements”, citing the creation and promotion of events, helping pick the line-up for Trinity Ball, and bringing “outside promotion in a little a bit, in conjunction with the Communications Officer” to be the main features. She added that, like with other sabbatical positions, the role “changes every year with the person”, believing that “it’s a lot more obvious with ents because people go to the events and are engaged with them”. When asked what it takes to be an Ents Officer, Cogan believes that “you need to be really good at something”, whether it’s “planning parties, being a good promoter, or being really good in terms of your media accessibility,” or “having a friend group that like to go out and you can hire them to go out and that ties into promoting as well”, adding that you also “need to be good with contact in the industry as well”.
As always, one of the big issues this year will be Trinity Ball. For many, this prestigious event is the highlight of the academic year. Students have come to expect a line-up glittered with soon-to-be household names, yet the same students complain of the €80-plus price tag. What can future Ents Officers do about this? In reality, very little. Unbeknown to the average student, the Ents Officer has little say in picking the Trinity Ball performers. Since 2003, MCD has been responsible for organising the event, whilst the Ents Officer handles publicity, ticketing and general information.
Unbeknown to the average student, the Ents Officer has little say in picking the Trinity Ball performers
When Katie Browne, a third-year psychology student from Waterford, was asked what were the main issues facing the next Ents officer, she responded that “the main issue is the Trinity Ball line-up. I’d love to bring back more live performances and adjusting the line-up to not just accommodate the preferences of a minority of students”. Browne alludes to the EDM-littered line-ups that have become the framework for ents events in recent years, with many students unhappy about the lack of diversity.
Grace O’Boyle, a third-year history of art and architecture student from Donegal, believes, if elected, she can “negotiate a better-suited contract that enables more preference in relation to Trinity Ball acts”. She also believes that the Ents Officer must address issues surrounding “the drug and alcohol culture that is present in Trinity”.
Padraic Rowley, a fourth-year computer science student, also articulated similar concerns. One of his largest events, “Relay for Life”, is “one of Trinity’s only 24-hour sober events” and involved over 20 societies over the course of the day.
Caolan Maher, a second-year earth science student, believes ents should provide “interesting non-alcoholic focused events for mature students who are past the whole getting ‘mashed’ on a night out stage”. Similar concerns were raised by Conor Parle in last year’s race, and are likely to return as people search for an alcohol-free alternative.
All candidates boast a wide range of experience. Maher started his own night – WREKT – for his class from scratch because “nobody else had taken the initiative to do so”. This event, according to Maher, became “something massive and every event since has sold out”. Padraic Rowley has experience being the Ents Officer for Student2Student, Sci-Fi Soc, and DU Fencing. Furthermore, he co-founded Chaplin’s Wednesdays club night. Katie Browne is the auditor of DU Psychological Society and Ents Officer for Trinity GAA. Grace O’Boyle has prior experience as part of the team that organised the Harry Potter Mystery Tour and also hosted a fundraising event for Temple Street Children’s Hospital.
When asked what she thought of this year’s candidates, Cogan stated that she knew the four candidates running and that she has chatted to all of them “in depth” about her year so far, and the role that the Ents Officer entails. “They will do a great job” she stated, and hopes that they will bring “passion” and “professionalism” to the position. Cogan also believes that “at the end of the day, getting elected doesn’t always define how you cope with being an Ents Officer. There’s a lot of things you need to be good at but you don’t need to be good at every single one of them. You need to be able to do them all and have a few big talents.”
All candidates believe ents would benefit from increased student involvement. Browne believes the solution is to organise a Trinity exhibition, consisting of a variety of students “getting to showcase their projects … art, dance, photography, drama, music, comedy etc”. Similarly, O’Boyle believes ents should not collaborate on events with “certain societies and not others”, which in turns, leads to “small societies not feeling supported by ents”. This is echoed by Caolan Maher, who believes LGBT involvement should be increased, with events such as “LGBTQ+ speed friending, nights out, and maybe even a little collaboration with Q Soc for a weekend trip away somewhere”. Lastly, Rowley believes his Student2Student background has helped him gain knowledge into creating events that are open to all. Cogan believes that there is “always room for expansion” and that the newly revived Ents Committee has made a “massive” impact on Ents this year: “People are involved in it and are proud to be involved in it because they know their ideas get carried forth as part of something quite big.”
Unlike past years, none of the Ents candidates emphasise the role of Ents Officer in the context of the union as a whole.
This year’s candidates also agree that ents needs to be injected with fresh ideas. Rowley plans to do this through developing an app. “Ents needs to take a more modern approach to event marketing and student interaction,” Rowley says, adding, “Coming from a computer science background, the idea of an app that can tell students daily what events are on around town and in college has massive potential impact.” Browne plans to introduce “Trinity’s Official Christmas Day”. This, she claims, would “entitle students to Christmas dinner, discounted ice-skating and live performances, an event for both students and staff”, adding that she plans on making this year “just that bit more unique”. Cogan believes that there are “plenty of things” that the Ents Officer can do to improve this. “I have told them about the things that I think they could do, and things to be improved on and some of them, well let’s see what they say.”
Likewise, creativity is the backbone for Grace O’Boyle’s events. This is not surprising with her background in DU Players. O’Boyle believes her creativity sets her apart from other candidates: “ I want to think outside the box and implement truly crazy ideas… I want to do what hasn’t been done before. I thrive on seeing something magnificent come together and creating an exciting environment and atmosphere for people…”.
Unlike past years, none of the Ents candidates emphasise the role of Ents Officer in the context of the union as a whole. Whilst Cogan does not appear to have taken a particularly political stance within Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU), previous Ents Officer, Finn Murphy, spoke avidly on student issues at TCDSU council, and organised the Trinity delegation at the USI rally in 2014. Candidate Caolan Maher believes that ents has the scope for increased student engagement within TCDSU because “it makes people aware of the union through a better avenue: having the craic.” He adds: “Many people aren’t political… I believe ents has the potential to show a different part of the union.”
So, ultimately, what makes a good Ents Officer? Cogan believes that you need to enjoy what you do: “Some people really love doing ents and I think you can see when they like doing it so I think you need passion. If they’re brave, they’ll be fine… I wish them the best of luck.”
Julianne Flynn is a Junior Editor, and will edit the ents race for The University Times.
Eleanor O’Mahony contributed reporting to this piece.
