By: Morgan Seiff — Film Editor and Kalliope Liason
In collaboration with Kalliope, Klio’s sister literary print journal, we have officially launched our new YouTube channel, Klio & Kalliope!
In addition to prose and poetry, Klio encourages multimedia art submissions, such as music, performance art, and film, and now we have a YouTube platform to host selected student work. Over the course of the semester, we aim to publish a variety of films and video submissions to our channel and embed them into posts here on our website.
As this year’s editor in chief of Kalliope, one of my goals is to find new ways to unite Kalliope and Klio and further develop the distinctions and relationships between our sister creative arts journals.
Last semester, when the Kalliope staff released a call for quarantine-themed submissions for our fall chapbook, Folio, we received a powerful short film from filmmaker and musician Sebastian Paul Vargas. Our staff loved it, but there was one problem: Kalliope and Folio can only accept pieces that can be put to paper, and videos aren’t made for print.
However, I saw the opportunity to build a new bridge between Kalliope and Klio through a shared YouTube channel, as well as to create a robust and lasting way to organize and archive our video submissions. Earlier this semester, we launched our YouTube channel with the release of Vargas’s experimental short about COVID-19, “Spring Broke,” originally submitted to Folio 2020.
Our YouTube channel also opened the door for Klio & Kalliope to create and post our own video content. As we brainstormed new ways to showcase the Penn State community’s creative talent, we came up with an idea to highlight the artists behind the submissions.
This became the Artist Statement project, which lends a platform to Penn State creatives looking to expand their audience. Each episode consists of a self-produced 1-2 minute video highlighting the artist’s work, background, inspirations, and aspirations–and ultimately giving them the floor to take control their identity as an artist.
Our first episode launched just last week featuring poet and painter Liza Rose, whose work has been featured in Kalliope 2020 and Folio 2020.
Over the remainder of the semester, our audience can expect to see a talented variety of short films from Penn Staters, both current students and recent grads. However, in addition to short films, we also have hopes to publish other video content, such as slam poetry performances, live music, music videos, performance art pieces, stand-up, and more. That’s where you come in!
If you are a Penn State filmmaker, musician, or performer and are seeking a new platform to showcase your work and expand your audience, I highly encourage you (yes, you!) to submit your short film or multimedia project for consideration (up to 10 minutes) and join Klio’s community of Penn State artists and writers.
Send an email to art.klio.psu@gmail.com with a link to your film or video project (via an unlisted YouTube link, or Google Drive/Dropbox/Box/WeTransfer). In addition, please include a project description/director’s statement and a short bio.
We are so excited to expand and diversify Klio’s content and community, and we hope that you’ll be part of this journey with us.
published 4-2-21