The quality of artists who perform in the professional shows can be a good metric of how big an intercollegiate cultural fest is. The Department of Live Events (DLE), which is responsible for managing these shows, thus has a huge role to play in the success of any edition of Oasis. With the fest fast approaching, Sakshi Choudhary, the DLE coordinator, explained what her department has planned for the “Far Out Fest”.

DLE organizes two events during Oasis – the Hindi professional show, and EDM night. In preparation for the fest, the department is focussing on the marketing and publicity for their events. It is also working to digitalize the process of signing up for the Prof Shows. ‘This year’s signings will be conducted directly on Excel sheets. Also, every time a stub is generated, a unique code will be sent to the student’s email id. We are thereby reducing the physical work and trying to making everything digital,’ Sakshi said.

DLE has evolved greatly over the years in terms of the scale of their events. Previously, it used to conduct a Hindi Prof Show and a DJ competition. After 2013, DLE was able to get Sunburn to organize an EDM night instead of a DJ competition. Further experimentation led to the Red Bull Bus Tour organizing the EDM night two years ago. Last year, they decided to get their own artists, but were unable to completely succeed due to budget constraints.This time, however, they have managed to book a big name. ‘We have succeeded in getting a really good artist who is definitely the best DJ that has ever come for EDM night. The name will be announced in a couple of days,’ Sakshi said.

DLE would previously bring one average artist and one upcoming artist for the Hindi Prof Show. Three years ago, they realized that they needed headliners, and hence focussed on getting only one popular artist. ‘The artists have only gotten bigger and better over the years. We got Amit Trivedi two years ago and Vishal-Shekhar last year. This year, we’ve gotten Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, who are the most in-demand trio in the music industry. Next year, we’ll have to get someone like Farhaan or Sunidhi to match this year’s scale.’

Sakshi added that her experience as the Oasis coordinator of DLE had been great. ‘The thing with DLE is that the show is ours. We have been working hard for this for the past six months. So, we enjoy the shows in a very different way. Also, I don’t want my career to be in production or event management. So, organizing a concert is literally a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me.’

Before signing off, she had a message for the first years – ‘This year, we have one of the best lineups that any college fest has ever seen.Thus, all the first years should come for the events, as we have worked very hard to get these artists. We also hope that by getting such big names, DLE continues to make Oasis a better fest in the future too.’