At a glance
The Sapphire Soiree is THE KOMPANY’s annual spring showcase, featuring K-pop dance performances alongside cultural… Read full summary
- Funding received
- 2025-2026
- Mini
- Awarded
- $1,300
- Funding partners
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- Services and Activities Fee (SAF)
The Sapphire Soiree is THE KOMPANY’s annual spring showcase, featuring K-pop dance performances alongside cultural performances from UW RSOs and local groups. The event highlights both modern and traditional cultural expression, creating an inclusive space for over 100 performers and hundreds of attendees to engage with diverse artistic traditions. The showcase also emphasizes sustainable fashion practices, encouraging performers to reuse, share, and creatively repurpose clothing. Funding will support the Kane Hall reservation and AV costs.
The Sapphire Soiree is THE KOMPANY’s 3rd annual Spring Performance Showcase. Our 3 hour show will present THE KOMPANY’s own K-pop cover dance crew, local cover groups, and UW RSOs performing their own genres of cultural performance. In the last two iterations of Showcase, the Husky Taekwondo Club has presented a fusion Taekwondo-K-pop demonstration. We’ve also had the Vietnamese Student Association perform their cultural hat and fan dances. Both groups have been invited to apply again this year.
Considering these platformed groups, our event is uniquely positioned to be a wide-reaching pillar of cultural sustainability. We highlight Korean pop music as a representation of modern Korean culture, Taekwondo as it connects to both modern and traditional Korean practices, and other cultural clubs who represent personal ethnic cultures. THE KOMPANY is the only K-pop cover group affiliated with the UW. Thus, through our Showcase, we aim to create a safe space for the community to freely engage with the genre without fear of judgement or ridicule. Our event platformed 145 performers and engaged 350 attendees last year. The continuation of our annual showcase will ensure a sustained ability for community members to perform and engage with the cultural genre that is K-pop.
Additionally, K-pop is famous for its innovative fashion. Unfortunately, there is a reliance on fast fashion to style performers. Our RSO emphasizes sustainable sourcing, as stylists work closely with dancers to creatively repurpose, modify, or share existing pieces to dress our performances and covers. Dancers create a digital "wardrobe" with pictures of their clothes, allowing for styling based off of pre-owned pieces and easy sharing between our ~40 dancers. For a recent cover of, K-pop group, SEVENTEEN's Thunder (example on Youtube), our team took black basics and used neon green electrical tape to DIY an inventive sci-fi design. Similar strategies will be employed for showcase. We will also express these sustainable values to our guest performers encouraging others also consider sustainability.
CSF funding will be essential to supporting this event via venue rental, AV rental, and promotional expenses. First, our half day rental of Kane 130 is essential to accommodate AV set-up and tear down, a full tech rehearsal for our 8+ groups, and the actual show. Second, AV is integral as the speakers and stage monitors ensure our dancers can hear their songs over the crowd. Finally, promotion is key to maximize reach via HUB ticketing, Hub digital ad displays, and promotion through The Daily's social media.
Schools: Henry M Jackson School of International Studies, School of Art + Art History, Foster School of Business, iSchool, Paul G Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering, UW Graduate School
Misc: Interdisciplinary Honors Society, HFS Amenities, Office of Minority Affairs and Diversity, Educational Opportunities Program, Samuel E Kelly Ethic Cultural Center
Request amount and budget
Plans for financial longevity
As this is a performance event there will be no need for future maintenance plans after funding ends. After the Sapphire Soiree ends, The Kompany's Officer team will review and reflect on the event to identify our successes and areas for improvement for future implementation. If CSF funding is needed to support The Kompany's Showcase in 2027, a new application will be submitted requesting support. But showcase planning for Spring 2027 will begin (similar to this year) in the fall of 2026. Officers for next year will have ample access to this year's documentation, meeting notes, and experienced members to succeed in organizing the following year's showcase.
October:
- Showcase Budget completed and confirmed by team
- Kane 130 reservation submitted and confirmed
November:
- AV Rental order submitted and confirmed
December:
- Showcase name and concept confirmed
- Showcase day-of timeline established
January:
- (Various dates) Funding applications submitted (HUB RSO, Alumni Association, ASUW, GPSS Special Allocations)
- (End of Month) Branding theme, graphics ideas, and general style guide complete
February:
- (Various dates) Funding application submitted (ECC SDEF, CSF)
- (Feb 4th) Guest Performer Application opens
- Notable RSOs and performance groups invited to apply via email
- (End of Month) Branding + full style guide complete
March:
- (March 3rd) Guest Performer Applications close
- (March 4th) Guest performer applications reviewed + acceptance/rejections sent out
- (March 16th) Guest groups finalized
- (March 25th Due) Guests groups claim songs they will perform
- Performer details also due (basic group info for promotional use)
April:
- (April 1st) Final Setlist organized and finalized
- (Mid April) All promotional graphics, flyers, etc completed
- (Late April) Showcase is announced + Promotion begins on all platforms + Tickets go live
May:
- (Up until May 23rd) Showcase promotions via flyers, social media, UW newsletters, UW promotional channels, etc
- Showcase logistics organized + communicated to team and performance groups
- Decorations made (origami flowers, etc) or purchased
- Online event program completed
- Performance groups prepare and practice sets
- (May 24th 1 hour before show) Tickets close --> switch to at the door sales
- (May 24th) SHOWCASE!!
- (Before End of Month) Payments for venue and av rental made
- Post event materials prepared for sponsoring funders
Plans for long-term project management
This Sapphire Soiree will be our 3rd consecutive annual showcase. Our RSO's officer team prioritizes Showcase as our most important event and will continue to do so. Our Officer team is ~20 members large, ~1/2 of which will be graduating this year. Those still on the team will retain the experience of organizing showcase along with our detailed meeting notes, club annual timelines, showcase planning kits that are currently being created for overall timeline as well as individual funding applications.
Officer applications will be opened in April, to be concluded in early May, ensuing onboarded Officers get shadowing experience related to Showcase planning up to the May 24th show. Incoming officers will be supported by their vacating predecessor via written documentation, 1:1 orientation meetings, job shadowing, and availability via text for any questions. Additionally, graduation does not 100% mean leaving the team. Many past officers still participate in our Dance or Kreative Teams and are thus available for advice if needed during the upcoming year. For Treasurer (the member responsible for this application), we already have an "Assistant Treasurer" for 2025-26 currently training in preparation to take over next year.
Problem statement
The Sapphire Soiree supports the UW's cultural sustainability need for safe spaces to engage with Korean culture through K-pop. K-pop's emphasis on artistic storytelling, choreography central performance, and idols as holistic entertainers cements the genre as a zeitgeist of Korean pop-culture. Through K-pop, fans connect with the Korean dance scene, K-Drama, K-Fashion, K-Beauty, the Korean language, Korean cuisine, and often even Korean politics or social issues. Thus, it is incredibly important to foster our K-pop communities on UW's campus protecting this avenue for cultural exchange.
Unfortunately, interest in the genre has historically received judgement and ridicule for being a "niche' or "other" culture. Our club members can attest to the bullying, critique, and lack of acceptance for simply enjoying music in a different language. This historical lack of psychological safety surrounding K-pop interest informs The Kompany's mission to create safe spaces and the creation of our Showcase as a celebration of the community.
Additionally, fast fashion is a sustainability concern globally, highly impactful to the visual media of K-pop. It is not uncommon to see fans make one-time purchases to complete outfits. Thus, modeling sustainable styling practices with our visibility and reach aims to address this common impulse.
Problem context
The Sapphire Soiree fits into the greater UW ecosystem as The Kompany serves as the main access point to K-pop community and performance. K-pop is a genre enjoyed by all demographics, especially in other cultural and POC contexts. Thus, we've performed for many cultural events like Timeless Taiwan and the TSA Night Market. These events support Korean cultural sustainability by putting our K-pop performances in front of their audiences, engaging more students with the art, and normalizing enjoyment of the genre in the greater UW community. These other cultural RSOs work alongside us create safe spaces across the UW for their communities and ours. Our showcase takes the next step placing K-pop and Korean pop-culture front and center.
Korean cultural representation is also supported on campus by groups like the Korean Student Association (KSA) who engage Korean populations directly. Another is Taekwondo Club (TKD), who similarly to us, practices the Korean martial art and serves as a different gateway to Korean modern culture and traditional practices. Our showcase synergizes with these efforts by engaging all demographics with K-pop and by collaborating with TKD year after year for our showcase to pair modern K-pop with the culturally significant art of Taekwondo on stage.
Measure the impacts
| Impact / goal | Metric(s) of success | UW stakeholders impacted |
|---|---|---|
| Platform local K-pop and other cultural performers | 125 performers platformed, 8 performance groups platformed | Undergraduate, Graduate, Alumni |
| Engage Seattle K-pop and general community | 350 attendees engaged | Undergraduate, Graduate, Alumni, Academic staff, Admin staff |
| Minimize fast fashion reliance in performances | 14 Kompany songs/performances styled prioritizing already owned clothing items | Undergraduate, Alumni |
Communication tactics and tools
Our communication strategy focuses on creating broad awareness to K-pop on campus and The Sapphire Soiree. Our social media will post the most detailed event information including: Showcase date and ticket announcement, guest performer announcement, countdown to Showcase, and more. All non-Kompany advertising will direct interested parties to the ticket sale site and our social media for more information.
Our key communication tools are as follows:
- Social Media
- Instagram @thekompanyuw will serve as the main hub for up to date information on the Sapphire Soiree.
- Youtube @THEKOMPANY will promote the Showcase in our April-May covers posted with Sapphire Soiree themed end cards.
- Instagram Reels, Youtube Shorts, and TikTok @thekompanyuw will promote via short-form trend type content
- The Daily Paid Advertisement: Ideally we will get a video ad, but multiple smaller ads are also possible.
- Guest performer cross-promotion: via their social media and word of mouth
- Other RSOs and previous collaborators: relationships leveraged for cross-promotion on social media
- UW ECC Newsletter: Weekly cultural event newsletter
- Digital on-campus advertisement: HUB Digital Displays and UW Library Digital Displays
- Physical flyers: will be posted across campus in UW Libraries, HFS buildings, Academic Halls, and other U-District locations.
- Physical Tabling: at events like the ASUW Fair
Outreach communication plan
Outreach communication and marketing for the Sapphire Soiree will maintain a cohesive branding as this Spring's Masquerade, emphasizing the quality of our performance as well as the large scale event nature of the showcase. As K-pop is a genre for all, we are inviting anyone and everyone to engage with Korean pop-culture as we celebrate a shared love of K-pop. We will be collaborating with our guest performers to reach their unique audiences, promoting through the ECC to reach diverse demographics, and through campus-wide promotional channels (Hub digital displays, The Daily ads) to reach far flung fans and carve out a space for K-pop interest on campus.
Student involvement
Our event is planned, organized, and executed entirely by student leaders. With an Officer Team comprised of 21 students, the longest 2 tenured Officers have been involved for 4 years and the newest 9 just started Fall 2025. Most roles are shared, creating a leadership structure supported by mentorship within roles, especially early in the year, to support the successful organization of our annual showcase.
Organizing showcase is a serious endeavor where project management is key and cross-functional leaders in charge of dancers, creative styling, graphic design, finances, etc all must work together on a tight timeline to create a successful showcase. Leadership in this large-scale team project is an opportunity for Officers to develop professionally transferable skills like: communication, time management, resource management, human capital organization, marketing, problem solving, and more. Responsibilities including: Dance Team performance preparation, Kreative Team styling and promotional graphics design, guest performer management, and event logistics/financing are all areas which student Officers manage closely to ensure smooth execution of or event.