Canvas party to be open to public

Canvas Magazine is having a premiere party that organizers hope will be as big as the creativity on their pages. The event will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday at Rhino’s to welcome the spring 2011 issue. This time, junior and Union Board Canvas Creative Arts Director AJ O’Reilly would like to make a point to say that the whole campus is invited.

“We usually do this for the artists of every issue, but we had a new idea for this year,” O’Reilly said. “I didn’t think the invite-only party matched the climate of the committee, so we’ve turned to be more about the arts and everyone can come.”

To make this idea a reality, O’Reilly teamed up with his committee to bring in local musicians The Calumet Reel, The Natives and Lindsay Smith to perform. However, in order to parallel the magazine’s content, Canvas will also be hosting the two-time slam poet world champion Anis Mojgani. Sophomore and Assistant Director of the Premiere Party Brianne Eby said she hopes the local and national acts will help draw in a crowd of wide variety.

“We really worked hard to make it appealing to everyone by reaching out to different venues,” Eby said. “I think we’re going to connect with a lot more people and enjoy a really fun night.”

The party will be the first chance students have to get the issue before its debut on newsstands Friday. Eby and O’Reilly agreed when they said the most unique thing about Canvas is that readers can tell how high-quality the publication is.

“Everyone’s favorite part is when the magazine comes out because it’s something that we have all worked hard on all semester,” sophomore and Assistant Canvas Director Bridgett Henwood said. “People can just tell when they read it that it’s well-done.”

Henwood said that though Canvas isn’t popularly known on campus, when students do pick it up she thinks they will see it as a great representation of the IU student body.

“We have a sort of rolling submission,” O’Reilly said. “For each issue, we take over 650 submissions and we take the best from those.”

O’Reilly said Canvas is special in that it is one of the only publications that publishes work from both undergraduate and graduate students.

“We get a wide variety of visual and written work,” O’Reilly said. “We get things from fiction pieces to sculptures to 3-D pieces to anything else you can imagine.”

Eby said that she feels Canvas is a great way to acquaint people with the creative works of the community. She agreed with O’Reilly that she likes that Canvas is not just about the final publication but campus programs as well.

“Recently, we brought the founder of To Write Love on Her Arms to campus, and as a part of Union Board, we look to do a lot of things for campus,” O’Reilly said. “We all work closely together and the friendships alone make it all worthwhile.”

Henwood said the committee is always looking for new people to get involved in the publication through attending meetings or just submitting. O’Reilly said more information about getting involved is available at www.ubcanvas.com and will also be provided at the premiere party.

“Come for the slam poetry and music if anything else,” O’Reilly said. “It’ll be a good way to get to know Canvas and celebrate a last hoorah before you have to buckle down and study for finals.”