Boardwalk Entertainers Needed for Hospitality Management's SMASH Event

SMASH Committee

Think you could be a boardwalk entertainer? If so, SMASH has an opportunity for you.

The hospitality management program is looking for U of A students skilled in arts and entertainment to work its SMASH event on Saturday, April 9.

SMASH (Students Mastering the Art of Southern Hospitality) is a dining and networking fundraiser for the program. Students are hosting Boardwalk Bash, featuring the food, sights and sounds of a traditional entertainment district, in the Arkansas Union's Verizon Ballroom from 6-9 p.m.

Instructor Dede Hamm is looking for students who can provide "boardwalk" talent to entertain guests in exchange for a ticket to the event ($75 value).

Students with skills as caricature artists, balloon artists, tarot card readers, palm readers, mimes, magicians and solo instrumentalists are encouraged to contact Hamm (corahamm@uark.edu) and provide either a video or social media posts of their talent.

Preference is for students to be aged 21 or older, but if not, candidates can still apply. Entertainers need to be at their event stations from 5:30-7:30 p.m. leading up to the meal.

Two hospitality classes in the School of Human Environmental Sciences, which is part of the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences, are using the semester to coordinate and execute the event. A SMASH class, under Hamm, is handling the planning and organization.

A cooking lab class, Cultures and Cuisines of the World, is in charge of the meal, under the direction of instructor Lobat Bayyari.

Tickets to SMASH are available for $75 each and can be purchased here. Tickets for HESC faculty and staff are $60, for hospitality alumni $50, a student family package for two is $120 and a SMASH couples package is $130.

Sponsorships for seat and table options include various VIP packages: Bronze (two guests, $250), Silver (four guests, $500), Golden (six guests, $1,000), Platinum (eight guests, $2,500) and Diamond Pineapple Packages (10 guests, $5,000) with company recognition and promotion. All packages include the reception, dinner, beer and wine.

Tickets and sponsorships are available now through April 5. Tickets will not be available at the door the day of the event.

Proceeds benefit the hospitality management program through scholarships, resources, equipment and funds for educational travel.

About the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences: Bumpers College provides life-changing opportunities to position and prepare graduates who will be leaders in the businesses associated with foods, family, the environment, agriculture, sustainability and human quality of life; and who will be first-choice candidates of employers looking for leaders, innovators, policy makers and entrepreneurs. The college is named for Dale Bumpers, former Arkansas governor and longtime U.S. senator who made the state prominent in national and international agriculture. For more information about Bumpers College, visit our website, and follow us on Twitter at @BumpersCollege and Instagram at BumpersCollege.

About the University of Arkansas: As Arkansas' flagship institution, the U of A provides an internationally competitive education in more than 200 academic programs. Founded in 1871, the U of A contributes more than $2.2 billion to Arkansas' economy through the teaching of new knowledge and skills, entrepreneurship and job development, discovery through research and creative activity while also providing training for professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the U of A among the top 3% of U.S. colleges and universities with the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the U of A among the top public universities in the nation. See how the U of A works to build a better world at Arkansas Research News.