GW student bands will headline the concert portion of the Program Board’s Spring Fling April 24 for the first time in the event’s decade-long history.

Past Spring Fling acts have included They Might Be Giants, Toad the Wet Sprocket and Tori Amos, but PB decided to open the event to campus bands who were anxious to perform for a student audience.

“A lot of student bands came to us because they wanted to have a forum to play out in front of a GW crowd,” PB Concert Chair Ian Zeitzer said.

PB members said they hope to select three opening bands and one student headliner.

“We figured that this would give students a good opportunity to perform for a large student crowd so they could finish the year off strong,” Zeitzer said. “Student bands haven’t had a good place to play around campus for a while now.”

Despite poor turnout at November’s Blues Traveler concert, PB Executive Chair Brian Nathanson said the decision to feature student bands rather than their more well-known counterparts was not based on financial problems.

“Despite Blues Traveler, our budget will still be met perfectly, and we will not be overspending this year,” Nathanson said. “Our decision to bring in student bands for Spring Fling was not a budget issue.”

PB will accept demo tapes and CDs from student bands up to April 12. Depending on the success of Spring Fling, PB members said they may continue to use campus bands at future events.

Spring Fling is held outdoors on the Quad, so good weather is a necessity, Zeitzer said. He said good weather could draw between 1,500 and 3,000 people to the event.