A group of students at Buffalo State has decided to bring back a lost literary arts magazine. They are doing this by soliciting students to submit essays, poetry, short stories, photos, collages, graphic designs, etc. So far, the effort has led to hundreds of submissions rolling in, which the students on the Portrait editorial team hope will represent a certain time, place, people, ideologies and so on.
“During April, we came together as an editorial team to make our final decisions on submissions, and formatted everything into the final booklet draft,” said Spencer Miliotto, a student at Buffalo State. “The School of Arts and Humanities gave us $550 dollars with which to print 220 copies of this first revived issue of Portrait.”
A launch celebration will be held on Thursday, May 4, 2017 at 3:00pm in the Louis P. Ciminelli Recital Hall in Rockwell Hall on the Buffalo State campus. At the event, hard copies of the magazine will be handed out. Students whose work is featured in the magazine will be on hand to discuss the experience, as their works are projected in the space. Buffalo State faculty members will also be present, reading their own works.
“This, we hope, will help to bridge the gap of achievement, and demonstrate to students that their work is important and appreciated,” stated Miliotto.
To add to the scope of the magazine, the next issue will feature multi-media recordings, news casts, radio documentaries, short fils, and recorded performances, which will be included with the paper issue (via CD/DVD or flash drive). Examples of what might be included are:
- Recorded performances of Music Department student recitals
- Friday Night Live (a comedy troupe on campus)
- Rockwell Records (a student-run organization focused on producing music)
The May 4 magazine launch and celebration is open to the public. The students are very proud of this accomplishment, and hope to share this achievement with all of Buffalo.