As the spring semester draws to a close, mixed in with the deadlines are the events on campus allowing a time of escape and activities to look forward to. This year, a newly refined event has combined the talents of AU students and a universal love of music: Somnium. A student-run music concert, Somnium is hosting several AU student artists and bands in Reardon Auditorium.
Somnium was founded last year in 2022 by then-junior Paige Anstead and senior Cameron Walters. It centered around a guest artist from outside the AU community but introduced AU artists as the openers. This year, in 2023, Somnium is now entirely for the students, by the students. “We are making it more artist focused rather than headliner focused,” Anstead, now a senior in music business said. Now in partnership with Izzy Steenberg, Anstead and Steenberg have new ideas and goals for what Somnium will look like.
Steenberg, a sophomore music business major, states that this year the goal is to “getting an on-campus presence.” Anstead says that Somnium was “created to be a community event.” With these year goals in mind, this year is about getting students interested in supporting AU artists.
In the coming years, Anstead hopes that those that take over are “able to dig into the community of AU and Anderson in general. We are wanting it to be a fun thing on campus, maybe eventually have it as a music festival.” Steenberg, who will be running Somnium next year, has a similar goal stating that the “five year goal is to be the anchor event of the spring semester, like Homecoming is for Fall.”
Follow Somnium on TikTok and Instagram (@somnium_au) and see the artists that are playing as well as some behind the scenes footage of the production. Somnium is happening on Friday, April 21, 2023 in Reardon Auditorium. Doors are opening at 8 p.m. and the show starts at 8:30p.m. Tickets are only $5 and are available for purchase on their website:https://www.somniumau.com/attend.