The Georgetown Program Board has secured a headliner for the annual spring concert early this year to prevent the problems with last-minute rescheduling that hampered last year’s event.

Although concert planners have not yet released the name of the artist because contract details have not been finalized, they said the event will likely draw a larger crowd than it did last year.

Planning for the concert, which is scheduled for March 30 in McDonough Arena, began in November.

“We tried to get started a lot earlier this year, so we didn’t have to scramble like in years past,” GPBConcert Chair Will Henderson (MSB ’14) said.

Henderson did not release GPB’s annual concert budget, but said that additional donations from groups such as the Senior Class Committee and What’s After Dark have helped secure stronger performers than last year. The lineup for last spring’s concert included Kevin Rudolf, Shwayze andDev and the Cataracs. It is likely that seniors will receive a discount on their tickets this year because of the Senior Class Committee’s contribution.

GPB Executive Board Chair Tyler Simpson (COL ’13) said the responsibility of booking artists falls on the concert planning committee and an additional volunteer core of about a dozen students. These students act as representatives for the student body, suggesting artists that they think will be well received.

While the committee conducted a school-wide survey last spring in order to gauge student responses to certain artists, the current GPB board feels it was not a helpful tool in securing a performer and raising student interest in the concert.

“The survey didn’t help much, and it wasn’t realistic,” Simpson said.

Henderson, who is in his first term as GPB concert chair, believes the annual spring concert will continue to improve in the future as donations from campus groups increase and planning is more efficiently executed.

“Hopefully in following years we can make serious changes to make the concert a bigger and better deal,” he said.

Correction: The article previously stated that the Georgetown Program Board’s annual concert budget is $13,000 and that Students of Georgetown, Inc. provided funds for artists. That budget number reflects additional funds given to GPB by the Georgetown University Student Association for the prospect of putting on a fall concert last semester. Also, The Corp has only donated refreshment in the past. The article has been updated to reflect these changes.