No Radboud Rocks, no Dies Natalis and also no Radboud café during the 4Days Marches. 2024 is going to be a lot less festive than previous years. After the hundredth anniversary of the University, the decision was made to slow down for a bit, so the university can take a good look at her future, and to save some money.

Radboud Rocks, the spring festival of the university, has been cancelled this year. This was confirmed by director Marketing & Communication Pim van Zanen, who told Vox about it. The university will also not celebrate her 101^st birthday in October. No Dies Natalis this year.

After the 100^th birthday party of last year, which was celebrated both in the spring as in the autumn with a week of festivities, the university wants to take a step back. The Radboud Café during the 4 Days Marches is also cancelled.

Inflation

‘We want to slow down. This will allow us to really think about the future,’ says Van Zanen. He adds that just the organization of Radboud Rocks costs around 65.000 euros. ‘However, with the current inflation in the events sector, a similar experience as previous years cannot be obtained for that amount of money.’  According to Van Zanen, this means that the concept of Radboud Rocks will need a change.

The budget can hardly be raised in a time where the university already has a lot less money to spend. Though it’s not all bad: a year with less activities helps some groups of employees of the university to slow down a bit too. Van Zanen notes that the organization of the centenary party demanded a lot of them, because their daily activities went on as well.

Prins S. en de Geit

Last year no less than seven honorary doctorates were awarded. Radboud Rocks evolved into the Radboud Festival because of the 100^th anniversary. Prins S en de Geit, Goldkimono and Ch!pz performed. Rutger Bregman, Maarten van Rossem and Sinan Can were present for the content-related parts of the program.

Translated by Lara Nijhof