Every year, Suffolk’s Venture Magazine is published to showcase the talented works of students, alumni and faculty, whether it is literature-based, photography, poetry or any other art-based creation.

“Venture really is a place where you can get your voice out and express yourself,” said Venture Editor in Chief Jillian Canavan.

With the collection of works and production taking all year long to produce the publication, a lot of work goes into Venture behind the scenes. Submissions usually are due by the third or fourth week of November, but this year, submissions were extended to the week before finals.

“Usually we get about a hundred literature submissions, maybe a hundred art submissions,” said Canavan. “This year was interesting because we had fewer submissions, so I had more room for artists. Last year we had two hundred-something art submissions and only had room for 25 of them. It was really hard. This year it was easier and so much better that there was room for these submissions. It was the same thing with the literature. I didn’t have to worry about cutting out long fiction pieces that would take up a lot of space.”

With the submissions in comes the editing of hundreds of pieces, which Canavan said was the most challenging process of putting together the magazine.

“[The biggest challenge] is making sure the integrity of the authors and artists is not sacrificed in compiling the book,” said Canavan. “I have an editing staff that select the pieces and then work with the authors, or the pieces themselves and indirectly with the authors, to go and grammatically edit them. Whether they are revised with my e-board or if it’s just simple punctuation, I have to make sure their piece matches the English language but it doesn’t lose the voice and feeling of the author. So that is the hardest part. Making sure I keep the author and keep the author in their piece, their photograph, their drawing [without changing their voice].”

Along with the editing of pieces, the book itself must be designed. Canavan let the Journal in on what the cover design may look like.

“I’ve based the design of the cover off the fact that you use your voice and your expression to be yourself and to show who you are,” said Canavan. “Who you are is part of your existence and its part of your purpose in life, and without it there really is no existence. Our voice and words are what gives us existence and life.”

“From that, I was thinking and drew from the Tree of Life and also drew from the fact that yours generally come from your heart,” continued Canavan. “It incorporates the natural rhythm of life. It moves from a regular EKG line into an EKG line with wisps that look like veins and/or roots and then it moves into a tree that’s blooming and then it makes a pattern going back into the EKG line. It represents our natural rhythm of life.”

The magazine will be release at Venture’s launch party on April 20, in the Donahue Café at 6 to 8:30 p.m., something Canavan and her E-Board have been working toward all year. Meagan Damore, the Fiction/Non-Fiction Editor, Alex Ali, the Poetry Editor, Alex Wikoff, the Art Editor, make up Venture’s E-Board and ensure that the magazine is published.

“I can’t wait to see these books printed,” said Canavan. “I really excited to not only see my year’s work, but to be proud of all my fellow students and my fellow alumni and staff and community and to be a part of that.”

With Canavan still a junior this year, she intends to make changes to the magazine next year. She mentioned the author and artist’s contract needs clarifying, so submitters and the staff know exactly what they need to do and expect.

Canavan also mentioned another main goal was to put Venture Magazine online. “I also would like to put Venture online. It’s a project that I was going to start this summer but never had time to. But since I’m graduating in next spring and will have a lesser class load in the spring, I’m hoping to put it together. Starting from 2006, I have all the books on file and I’m going to archive them and put them online.”

With the potential of Venture joining the digital world and their launch event on April 20, there’s a lot to look forward to for the magazine’s future.