The University Board has changed the day of its monthly Open Mic Night program to accommodate another event on campus.

The UB, which hosts a monthly open mic night program on Wednesdays, has changed this month’s program to Thursday.

UB co-chairman David Sims, a senior kinesiology and sports studies major, said the reason for the change is because the Essence of a Man contest, a male scholarship contest run by the Black Student Union.

“They had their date before we did so when we found about it we changed ours,” Sims said. “We wanted to pay our respect to them and not create a conflict of events for people.”

Sims said when the UB decided to change the date they also had to change the location of the program, which was originally scheduled to take place at the Java Beanery & Bakery coffee shop in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.

“Java was already booked, so we changed it to the 7th Street Underground,” Sims said.

The theme of this week’s open mic is “Unplugged”

“It’s supposed to be more acoustic,” Sims said. “I guess technically the instruments could be plugged in, but not really heavy metal or rock.”

Sims described the theme of Thursday’s performances as “coffee shop type music.”

“This theme is more up in the air,” he said. “With some of the other main stage events we have had certain requirements of the performers.”

Sims said these requirements have included that the performers perform original pieces such as for the So You Think You Can Rap? contest.

“They can perform whatever they want,” Sims said. “It doesn’t have to be something they wrote.”

The program is also not a contest so no awards will be given out, although UB members will raffle UB merchandise as door prizes.

This is the last UB sponsored open mic night of the semester and Sims said he is looking forward to a changes to the mainstage division of UB next semester, including the new spotlight series of programming, which will be based upon the idea of an open mic night.

In February, the winner of that contest will receive their own UB event to “showcase their talent” and will be featured on the poster.

“Hopefully it will give students more incentive to get involved,” Sims said. “If audience members see the performers treating it more seriously, they might attend more.”

Along with the new programs, Sims said the UB is currently recruiting for a new mainstage coordinator. Applications for the position are available online or in the Student Activity Center of the Union. Applications are due Friday.

Thursday’s open mic program begins at 7 p.m. in the 7th Street Underground of the Union.

Amy Wywialowski can be reached at 581-2812 or alwywialowski@eiu.