A great way to bring your campus and local communities together is to host a "Battle of the Bands" open to the entire town. You might be surprised at the array of talent at local high schools, or among the people you see every day.

Battle of the Bands competitions are fairly common on college campuses and popular events as they tend to cost significantly less than hiring a professional band to come and play. Of course, at smaller schools, these events are often limited by the fact that there are not a huge number of student bands on campus. By opening the competition to the entire community you can reach a much wider audience and much wider selection of talent.

When publicizing the event, focus on recruiting bands from you campus but then reach out to the local high schools. Also, try to contact the faculty and staff on campus. You might be so lucky as to have a staff band that will be willing to play (much to the enjoyment of the college student body) or they might know of some other musicians who would like to be involved.

It is important to use a venue that can be accessed by not only members of your college but members of the larger community as well - you may have one of your largest attendances yet with families and friends of high school performers attending as well as your college peers.

Make sure you advertise a prize ahead of time, and select an impartial panel of judges that can help you select the winner. While this event takes a good deal of planning, the money saved over hiring a big performer offsets the work you put in.