Four years ago, 2,000 Wichita State students gathered in Charles Koch Arena to watch the men’s basketball team win the NIT Tournament, followed by an AfterDark performance.

Though the team is not playing, AfterDark returns to campus Thursday night.

AfterDark is a show that travels to college campuses and provides music with a Christian message. The artists performing this year are Tedashii and Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors.

Wichita State senior Garrett Kissell has helped with the planning and organization, and said he expects the musicians to get the audience engaged.

“Tedashii is more of a hip-hop guy, so he’ll get the crowd pumped up and get them hyped. At the end of the night we’ll end it with Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors, who [is] like a bluegrass band and they can bring it, so the music itself is going to be fantastic,” Kissell said.

About half the arena will be put to use, but Kissell said he wants to see as many people there as possible.

“I’ve seen a lot of people stoked about this event so I’m really expecting a great turnout. It’s just awesome that you can go to this kind of thing and not even have to pay for it,” he said.

According to their website, AfterDark has been performing since 2000, and has played in front of more than 400,000 students nationwide on college campuses. This year, it has been to 12 schools including Oklahoma State, Kansas, Kansas State, Wyoming, and Louisiana State.

Senior Matt Gronberg is also helping out with the event. He said the goal is to raise awareness about the different student ministries on campus and get students involved.

Advertisements could be seen around campus, and students wearing bright neon shirts promoted the event, but the AfterDark team has been doing more this year to draw more people to the show.

“With our advertising, tabeling at the RSC is just a small part of it. Also what we’re doing this semester is reaching out to different student organizations and having them partner with us. Greeks, clubs, even classrooms,” Gronberg said.

Other ways AfterDark has been promoting the event is through the hashtags #wichitAWESOME and #AfterDarkWSU on Twitter. Organizers also will provide free Chick-fil-A on Thursday night for the first 100 students to arrive.

The fraternity and the sorority with the highest percentage of their members to show up to the event will each get $250 donated to their philanthropic cause.

“That’s a good amount for just showing up to a free event,” Gronberg said.

In between performing artists will be a message by Shea Robbins titled “Is Jesus relevant today?”

“Some might say it’s a controversial topic, but it’s really just thought-provoking,” Kissell said.

AfterDark takes place at 8 p.m. Thursday at Charles Koch Arena. The doors open at 7:30 p.m. It is free.

If you go:

‘AfterDark’ concert

When: 8 p.m. Thursday

Where: Charles Kock Arena

Tickets are free