On Friday, W.R.I.T.E poetry club held their first ever Carnival of the Arts. The event started at 4pm in the Bixler/Gerber Quad and ended around 7pm. The event included acts from various individuals and groups in addition to food and music.

The event was kicked off by WNHU, the campus radio station, providing music for guests to enjoy between acts. The first performer was Courtney Williams who was then followed by a performance from the Liturgical Praise Dance Team. Following the dance team’s performance were a multitude of individual acts who presented their own pieces, including poetry and song.

These acts were followed by a performance from Pineapple Johnny’s Improv/Comedy Club who performed a few interactive acts which included audience members. Their most popular was a game they played called “Freeze” in which two members would begin an improv scene, and at any time anyone could shout “freeze” to freeze the scene and replace a member, this then caused the scene to completely change. At first spectators simply watched and enjoyed the performance, but after a few rounds, crowd members started participating in the performance with their own improvisation skills.

Immediately following Pineapple Johnny’s was a performance from brothers of Kappa Kappa Psi, who played a few pieces of music for the crowd. Following this performance was another individual performance done by Alyssa Dearborn. Upon finishing her act, WNHU played more music for the crowd as the Monsoon dance team prepared to perform. After the dance team, several other individuals came to the stage to perform their poems and music.

Throughout the event, students were able to come in and out due to the flexibility of the location. Many students were drawn into the event while simply walking by the quad, while others came specifically because they knew about the event ahead of time. Many of the performers stayed at the event before and after their act not only to be respectful but also because the acts were enjoyable to watch.

The W.R.I.T.E. Poetry Club has been hoping to do an event like this one for a while and they were really happy with how the event turned out. The group intends to continue this event for years to come because they are incredibly proud of how the event turned out. The event was intended to bring together as many different art forms on campus as possible, as many of the art forms on campus do not tend to interact with each other.

“Carnival of the Arts showed that we have a wide spectrum of Art forms here on campus, and that I am glad to be a part of,” said current treasurer and president-elect of W.R.I.T.E. Jessica Brownstein.

The event was co-sponsored by many artistic groups on campus such as Theater Club, 5, 6, 7, 8 Dance Team, WNHU, Liturgical Praise Dance Team, Pineapple Johnny’s Improv/Comedy Club, Mosnoon Dance Team, and Music with a Mission. In addition to these groups, other cosponsors were The Black Student Union and To Write Love on Her Arms.