The Student Program Board’s Annual Spring Concert, featuring Jason Derulo as the headlining act, has been cancelled. The concert, to be held at the Meadow Brook Music Festival, had originally been scheduled for April 11 as an end-of-the-year event.

“This year’s spring concert featuring Jason Derulo has been cancelled,” SPB wrote on its Facebook page on March 1, citing “circumstances out of our control” and “complications we were not responsible for.”

Students who bought tickets have been refunded and notified of the cancellation.

These complications were actually scheduling conflicts that the board could not plan for or work around, according to Carin Inglis, mainstage director for SPB.

“Jason decided to push back his album release date and he and his agents made plans to promote his album in New York on April 11,” Inglis said.

Everything was organized and over $15,000 in tickets had been sold before SPB received the news that Derulo would no longer be performing, according to Inglis.

SPB tried its hardest to keep Derulo at Oakland and to “sweeten the deal,” according to Kalik Jones, chair of the board. Derulo, however, still decided to go to New York.

“That’s kind of his choice and that’s kind of out of our hands,” Jones said. “You roll with the punches, these things kind of happen.”

“He was making a career decision, which is good for him, but there is legally nothing that we could do about it,” Inglis said. “And just over a month is not enough time to put together a full concert.”

Inglis said she and the other board members are currently working to find a replacement event for the end of the semester. It won’t be as large-scale as the concert, but it will be free and will still provide “something nice to end the year out with.”

The board is already planning for next year as well, according to Jones. The next concert is scheduled for Sept. 5, during the 2014 Fall Welcome Week, and the search is already on for “an even bigger artist”.

“It’s just giving us an opportunity to make it up and make it a little bit better,” Jones said.

“I guess what we really want to let students know is that quality events are really important to us,” Inglis said. “We just want people to understand that we’re really doing the best we can.”

This concert had been in the planning since October 2013, according to Inglis. She and the rest of the board had to pay for the venue, find and pay for an artist and come up with a marketing plan

The Meadow Brook Music Festival alone cost around $23,000, according to Jones. Derulo would have cost around $60,000.

“Usually concerts run around $100,000 with everything included,” Jones said. “That’s really why we do surveys. It’s what matters the most… to provide the best that we can for the student body.”

Inglis and Jones said they are not only disappointed as SPB board members but as students as well.

“I was really looking forward to going to this,” Jones said.

Both Inglis and Jones said that everyone is encouraged to contact board members via email, phone or by stopping in the SPB office with any questions or concerns.

“I just want students to know that we are trying,” Jones said, who also spoke about the cancellation on WXOU on Friday, March 7. “I just want our communication to be open with all students.”

For more information email [email protected] or visit oakland.edu/spb.