On the evening of Weds. April 23, Concordia’s creative community gathered to celebrate the spring 2025 publication and release of the literary and arts journal, The Aerie. This launch party was especially meaningful and bittersweet, as it marked the last edition of the journal that will be headed by Professor Kristen Schmidt, English faculty and Director of the Writing Studio. 

Schmidt will be retiring after 35 years of professorship and leadership at Concordia. She revived The Aerie journal in 2000, and has guided its publication every year alongside student editors and the arts department. Through The Aerie, Schmidt has ensured an established and beloved space for Concordia’s students, faculty, staff, and alumni to share their work.

“I’ve been working with Kristen over the past 19 years, and we enjoy collaborating together, working with the student editors, with the student designers, and on online publication,” said Professor Rachel Soo, graphic design faculty and lead on the art and graphic design for The Aerie. “It's a great learning process for us every year, and especially meaningful this year.”

“Serving as an advisor for The Aerie with Rachel Soo, the department Chair for visual arts, and working with talented students to produce the literary and arts journal has always been one of the highlights of my work for Concordia,” said Schmidt. “The publication party and open mic event for The Aerie is an evening that brings together Concordia's artists and writers, as well as their families and friends, to celebrate the creative work being done at the University. Being in the company of so much talent is an incredible experience!”  

Over forty students, staff, faculty, friends and family were present to support the writers and artists published in the journal. Attendees were able to pick up physical copies of the journal, as they enjoyed open mic readings, desserts and warm drinks. 

“In my piece, I shared about how artistic expression is intensely vulnerable,” said Professor Zoë Litzenberg, Assistant Director of the Writing Studio. “It was wonderful to see such a broad selection of the Concordia community come together to celebrate a unified love of art. It's hard to capture what it's like to feel the energy of people being willing to share their art.” 

“It is true that art delights and instructs,” said Schmidt. “The audience enjoyed hearing poems read aloud by the authors and learned from artists who were published in this edition about their inspiration and process. The Aerie publication party and open mic is always a remarkable evening, and this year's event was no exception.”

“It’s been really special to see the combination of so much of Kristen's work come to fruition tonight,” said Litzenberg. “Kristen is someone who has cultivated a safe and celebratory community that pushes us to love one another better through our shared love of art.”

Find past editions of The Aerie online at www.cui.edu/arts/visual-arts/aerie, and look forward to the call for submissions for 2026 next fall! 

 

Tags: Aerie, Writing Studio, Visual Arts, Writing

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