DESPITE an abrupt ending to last Thursday’s staging of charity concert Open Ear, organisers prefer to look at the positives.

“The crowd was lovely; they were excellent. They came for the vibe and they brought their energy and they were really in sync with what we were trying to achieve,” Jamaiq Charles, president of the Mona Law Society, told the Jamaica Observer.

In its fifth year, Open Ear is held annually to assist less-fortunate law students with tuition. The venue was Students’ Union on the University of the West Indies’s (UWI) Mona campus.

Shortly after midnight, members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force from the UWI’s Mona Branch arrived to tell organisers that it was time to draw the curtains.

Acts including Jesse Royal, Kemar Highcon, Stylo G, and Jahmiel were only allotted approximately one minute to perform.

This left many patrons disappointed.

“It was way too short. One minute on stage wasn’t enough time for the artistes to entertain. I was only really entertained by Ikaya, because she had enough time to do so. Open Ear could have been, but it wasn’t,” second-year Computer Science student Ashley-Ann Ashley said.

“It was disappointing. The more recognised artistes that I came to see perform only did so for a few minutes,” second-year actuarial science major, Phillip Lloyd added.

Other artistes such as Kacique, Jalen, Skillibeng, Alxzsa, Deep Jahi, Naomi Cowan, G Law and Sevana had graced the stage earlier.

The event was slated to begin at 7:00 pm. However, patrons did not start to arrive until close to 9:00 pm.

Charles said scores of law students have benefitted from the event in previous years.

“As you know, we have one of the higher tuitions at UWI and some students really just don’t have it so one of our mandates is to do what we can. Over the years, Open Ear has helped over 70 students. The proceeds are broken down into smaller scholarships that we give out every year,” Charles added.

Last year, 800 UWI students were deregistered for failure to attain financial clearance. While the tuition for an average student stands at $300,000; students pursuing a bachelor of laws degree are charged $1.3 million per year.

He was unable to provide a figure of how much money was raised this year.