Delta Journal hosts Fall Art Gala Wednesday – LSU literary journal brings audiovisual event to Pelican House

Many might know Delta Journal as LSU’s undergraduate literary journal. However, over the past few years, Delta has made strides in fostering an artistic community open to more than student poetry and short fiction.

“We’ve been working on expanding our horizons and who we’re reaching out to,” Delta‘s public relations coordinator Leonela Guzman says. “The journal has been around since 1947, but we’re trying to expand past the literary community and reach out to the entire art community, to all artists.”

The free event Fall Art Gala will show off the journal’s new direction. The gala kicks off at 7 p.m. Wednesday at The Pelican House (Map it!). For more information, click here.

Among the works presented at the gala are submitted visual, audio and mixed media pieces as well select poems and short fiction works. Some pieces will be on display while others will be performed as a part of the event.

A select panel of judges will award a “Best in Show,” which will be guaranteed a special feature in the 2014 Delta Literary Journal. With the purchase of a raffle ticket, visitors can own a piece by the end of the night. Raffle proceeds will go toward the publication of the journal next spring.

Co-editor Daniel H. Brooks says the event is not only a showcase for local writers, but also an audiovisual experience that features interactive installation pieces and performance.

“It’s a chance for writers to explore what they can do with their work,” Brooks says. “I’ve seen a person read a poem, and as he’s reading, someone will come up with a different color of paint. By the end of the poem, he’s covered with paint.”

The value in an event like this for Brooks is connecting all the artists and bringing the journal to the public and to life.

“In the writing community, there are a lot of different influences coming together,” he says. “We’re not so much concerned with that. We’ll let it be what it is. We want to make sure it doesn’t peter out. We want to make sure people know we’re another part of what is happening in Baton Rouge.”

That community is all-inclusive, too, Guzman says.

“There are so many groups, so much going on that working against each other doesn’t make sense,” she says. “An event like this joins all those communities. You always hear that there’s some void in Baton Rouge, culturally and socially. I think residents are hungry for local voices and artists like these.”

For more information on Delta Journal, click here.