Student Media Showcase
The Cabell Screen will display 33 selected works through the summer.
Student media at VCU is big and broad–from legacy publications like the student newspaper that’s been around since the school was formed to cutting-edge digital publications. The Student Media Center houses various student-run media outlets available on multiple platforms — newspaper, radio, literary and arts journals, digital-only publications, video, comics and more. These outlets have won an avalanche of national and local awards for excellence in collegiate work.
The Student Media Center and its organizations exist to unite the diverse VCU community by sharing unique student voices and viewpoints through a variety of media platforms. The student-run media outlets provide public forums where student leaders foster inclusive, respectful, collaborative and creative environments.
A portion of the Student Activity Fee, which is part of the annual student bill, primarily funds the Student Media Center. As such, these publications are free to all students. Likewise, all students are welcome to get involved—there are no year or major requirements.
This Cabell Screen exhibit features work from student media published in 2024-25.
- Amendment was started in 2004 and is focused on social progress through literature and art. The publication’s purpose is to “provoke thoughtful conversation and inspire artists to develop conscientiousness and self-expression regarding issues of gender, sexuality, race, class, power and ability through diverse approaches and genres.”
- Annum Arcanum is an atelier and annual anthology archiving arcane artworks. A relatively new organization, it was founded in the Fall of 2023 and published its first collection in 2024. The goal of this publication is twofold. First, it showcases works that are experimental, niche, or otherwise outside of the mainstream. Second, the organization strives to be a resource for students to develop their skills as artists.
- The Commonwealth Times is a student-led and student-produced media organization that has been serving the Virginia Commonwealth University campuses at Monroe Park and MCV since 1969.
- Emanata, launched in 2014, is a student-run publication dedicated to uplifting the comics community at VCU and the greater Richmond area by providing avenues for comics artists to publish their work in an anthology. It is published annually in print and online.
- Ink Magazine started in 1978 as a Black student publication named Reflections in Ink. In the 1990s, the publication was renamed The Vine. In 2008, the magazine became Ink. Ink’s current mission statement is: “The magazine is devoted to the goals of diversity and multiculturalism that VCU itself embodies. Our goal is to reach the subcultures, the outsiders and those who feel unrepresented in print form.”
- Pwatem is an anthology of literature and art from undergraduate students at Virginia Commonwealth University. Pwatem publishes poetry, prose and art of all kinds from talented undergraduate students of all majors. The publication’s title comes from James Branch Cabell’s series of novels and other works titled Biography of the Life of Manuel. The setting of all the works is the fictional province of France, Poictesme (pwa-tem).
- Rabble is a companion chapbook publication to the magazine Pwatem. From the preface of most issues: ” ‘Tell the rabble my name is Cabell.’- James Branch Cabell to his editor, to help people learn how to pronounce his name. Cabell used the word derogatively, but we are taking it back. These pages will showcase the writing and illustrations of our ‘rabble’- the ordinary students of VCU.”
- River City Fashion Magazine is an online fashion and style website that reports local events but also details style trends while uncovering local design talent.
Artists, in the order their work appears in the exhibit, are:
- Lauryn Baynes, Amendment
- Marielle Taylor, The Commonwealth Times
- Elizabeth Murphy and Amaris Bowers, River City Fashion
- Dani Murphey, The Commonwealth Times
- Abigail Gleeson, The Commonwealth Times
- Luce Barahona, Pwatem
- Madison Bui, Pwatem
- Amuri Morris, Amendment
- Natalie Reyes, Emanata
- Dylan Hostetter, The Commonwealth Times
- Zephyr Conrad, Annum Arcanum
- Killian Goodale Porter, The Commonwealth Times
- Amuri Morris, Amendment
- Akili Williams, Ink Magzine
- Caleb Goss and Ava Soong, Ink Magazine
- Anthony Duong, The Commonwealth Times
- Victor Romanko, The Commonwealth Times
- Caleb Goss, Ink Magazine
- Camden Walker, Pwatem
- Liz Defluri, The Commonwealth Times
- Elizabeth Murphy and Amaris Bowers, River City Fashion
- Tessa Coleman, Annum Arcanum
- Elizabeth Murphy, River City Fashion
- Kirsten Sturgil, Pwatem
- Jason Gallardo Gonzalez, The Commonwealth Times
- Andrea Morales Mendizabal, Rabble
- Amaris Bowers, River City Fashion
- Killian Goodale Porter, The Commonwealth Times
- Kennedy Washington, Pwatem
- Nathan Varney, The Commonwealth Times
- Shawn Terry, River City Fashion
- Zoë Luis, The Commonwealth Times
- Amari Louviere, Annum Arcanum
Featured image: Clocking Out by Dani Murphey, The Commonwealth Times, November 6, 2024.
Categories Comic Arts, Communication Arts, Community, Student Work