Last Thursday, Oct. 18, NC State’s literary magazine Windhover hosted an open mic night in Caldwell Hall. The event was buzzing with aspiring poets, musicians, writers and everything in between, and provided a receptive environment, accepting of artists of every kind. Through this event, students were able to find a platform where their creative voices could be heard.
“Windhover’s purpose, in terms of the whole student media thing, is just getting different aspects of literary, visual, any kind of student art out there,” said Aubrey Izurieta, a second-year studying communication and the managing editor of Windhover. “This is just a really great platform for people to be able to express that artistic creativity and just get a vibe for what they have out there.”
This open mic event took many collaborative efforts to set up. In order to accommodate every performer, Windhover borrowed pieces of audio equipment from NC State’s WKNC student radio station. Technical setup was only the first half, the other half being the Windhover staff working their hardest to get the word out about the event.
“[Setting up the event] was mainly just spreading the word about it,” Izurieta said. “We posted on social media, we shoved flyers in peoples’ faces … It was mainly just getting the word out and letting people know it was happening and the exciting aspects of it.”
Windhover holds their open mic night events twice annually; in the spring and in the fall. Brock Sliter, a second-year studying political science, is a long-time author of short stories and enjoys performing live, including participating in open mic night.
“I’ve been performing my short stories for two or three years, and I just really like the Windhover community,” Sliter said. “They’re really nice and accepting. I have lots of friends that either work here or also perform.”
While Windhover open mic nights provide listening ears for one to perform their art to, they also provide an artistic safe haven from the general NC State student demographic.
“As a humanities student, it is nice to have events like this because it is easy to feel alienated or out of place since NC State has such a focus on math and science. It’s good to be around people who care about literature and poetry,” Sliter said.
Celeste Wilkie, a first-year studying physics, sang at the event, and utilized the open mic night as a way to get her work out there and engage with an audience.
“Singing in front of people is very scary for me and, as I’ve gone away from being in a band to doing my own solo stuff, I’ve had to get used to that. It definitely took some nervousness and consideration before I signed up,” Wilkie said.
Wilkie said that she used open mic night as a way to be more creatively integrated into NC State’s student culture.
“I feel more connected on campus now. I’m a freshman so it has been hard to find other artistic, musical people on campus… it is just nice to be in an inclusive area of creative people,” Wilkie said.
Now that the event itself has come and gone, Izurieta spoke about another way for students to share their work, namely through Windhover’s annual publication.
“The next step after [performing at open mic night] would be to submit to Windhover, we are accepting submissions starting next week, it closes in December,” Izurieta said. “This is a really good opportunity for people to be able to get their stuff out there and feel out [their] audience.”
Editor’s note: Windhover is a publication of NC State Student Media.
Windhover Open Mic Night took place on Thursday, Oct. 18 in Caldwell Lounge. Students performed original musical and literary pieces at the event.
