After two on-campus concerts featuring prominent artists fell through, it looks like SPU will finally have a big name artist come play for students.

On Monday night, student senate passed a $6,919.75 proposal to fund a spring concert featuring Christian artist Brandon Heath.

The concert, planned by ASSP Core, is scheduled to take place in Royal Brougham Pavilion on May 9. Although no official contract has been signed, all necessary parties have been contacted, said Charlie Beck, ASSP vice president of campus ministries. Along with vice president of campus activities Kellie Hicks and vice president of finance Joel VanderHoek, Beck authored the proposal.

Heath, a friend of Beck, is a singer and songwriter from Nashville, Tenn., and currently on the top 20 Christian music charts.

Before final agreements are reached on the concert, different departments of the university need to understand the specifics of who is selling the tickets, who is coming and where the proceeds are going, said Craig Kispert, associate vice president of Business and Finance.

“Until then, we don’t want the ink drying on any agreements,” he said.

This situation differs from the Rock for DMD Research concert, which the university did not approve to happen on campus, Kispert said.

However, by the time the university said, no, the band Pillar had already been contracted to perform. This rushed planners to find another venue before the April 11 concert date.

Plans to have the concert in Royal Brougham were stopped because of security and electrical capacity concerns, Kispert said. Scheduling also played large role in why Rock for DMD Research could not take place in Royal Brougham, he said.

“Even if we were to take this [the Heath concert] and put it in the same date, we’d have a lot of problems,” Kispert said.

There are minor quirks still being worked on for the Heath concert, Kispert said. However, because ASSP has been in touch with the right departments, have provided the university with the proposed contract with Heath and there are no scheduling conflicts with Royal Brougham, he said he does not foresee any issues that will stop the concert from happening.

The Heath concert, which VanderHoek said has been in the making since September, projects an attendance of 800 people. In addition to involving the SPU community, the concert will be open to the general public.

The projection of ticket sales is based on last year’s Rocky Votolato concert, which maxed out Upper Gwinn, Hicks said in the interview. According to the SPU Web site, Upper Gwinn can hold a maximum capacity of 450 people.

The additional revenue is expected to come through the artist’s popularity and the increased amount of publicity, Hicks said. The concert will be advertised on Christian radio stations and through churches, she said.

According to the proposal, should attendance skyrocket, a change of configuration in Royal Brougham will require a $1,200 fee. The fee was not included in the amount passed on Monday and would involve another proposal, VanderHoek said in an interview.

Any additional revenue will be donated toward a nonprofit organization, Hicks said in a Tuesday interview. Due to the university’s nonprofit status and its specific tax exemption status, however, the exact details still need to be worked out with the university administration, Hicks said.

In the event that revenue does not cover the cost of the concert, the difference would most likely come out of the general fund, VanderHoek said.

Questions were raised in senate about the popularity of the artist as well as the cost of ticket prices and the possibility of reducing the student fee while raising general admission.

Eventually, the price of the tickets remained as written at a student fee of $8 and general admission at $10 each and the proposal passed unanimously.

The next step of the process will involve spreading publicity and signing the contract within the next two weeks, Hicks said.