The Return: A Community Literary Magazine

In today’s society, STEM fields are increasingly prioritized over and isolated from the arts. Through producing a literary arts journal which focuses on the creativity of the average person, we can present readers with the idea that art is prevalent in all tracks of life, and is for all types of people. Our motivation is the perceived exclusivity of the arts, subjects which are often viewed as accessible to only certain types of people, and our opinion that this widespread notion is false. Correspondingly, our project goal is to encourage and foster public engagement in the arts. Our angle of approach on this is to create a widely available, low-stakes opportunity for people to present their works, view others’ modes of expression, and follow an inspiring community. While we do not have final results yet, our work, particularly in public outreach, suggests a prevalence of those who are interested in artistic creation, but simply don’t know what to do with it, or feel that their iteration of it is somehow lesser than others. The implications of this reaffirm our project goal, highlighting the importance of community expression and casual art.